


The Boy from Kansas

by Skywalcer



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, DCU, Gotham (TV), Justice League & Justice League Unlimited (Cartoons), Justice League of America (Comics), Superman/Batman (Comics)
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, Slow Build, There will be more characters to come
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-02
Updated: 2016-09-08
Packaged: 2018-07-19 16:00:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 30,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7368106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skywalcer/pseuds/Skywalcer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>High school AU.</p><p>Bruce Wayne meets Clark Kent.</p><p>[ More like... What would happen if the Justice League went to the high school together? ]</p><p>[ Updated regularly. ]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Pairing

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing a DC fanfic. I'm a noob.
> 
> Also, bear in mind that this work has nothing to do with facts. Never mind a the age differences, characters that make no sense to appear, and people saying OOC stuff. 
> 
> I just had fun, with all these fun to write characters.

The black car stopped at the wide and long doors of the building one could easily call ancient, then an old man - the driver got out from the vehicle, walked near the passenger seat to open the door for the boy he served.

Bruce Wayne, 16, looked at the Gotham Academy as he stepped out of the car, thinking how he will deal with this school. He had been homeschooled until this year; no matter how Alfred Pennyworth, his loyal butler and friend, tried everything to convince him to go out and socialize, Bruce never thought he could be comfortable among those children.

For this year, he thought about the bigger picture. As being the owner of the Wayne Enterprises, he had to draw a nice, public image as he'd be seen on the news more than he did before, once he became 16. He hated society, and all its liars, but he had to keep the Wayne legacy alive.

It was probably Alfred who was the happiest and most excited one about this, for he bought the uniforms and school kits on the first day they signed the contract. They also took an appointment at Dr. Leslie Thompkins, the only psychologist Bruce agreed to see through the years, to talk about the pros he'll be having at school.

There he was, 3 months later, in front of the gates. He could hear all the laughing girls, chatting squads as much as he could see the silent ones.

"I packed you a lunch, sir," Alfred said to him, holding a pack on his hand. "A sandwich, an apple and an orange juice. Excuse the simplicity."

Bruce laughed. "You don't need to pack me lunches, Alfred," he said but he took the package anyway. "I can cope on my own."

"I couldn't make these when you were younger, Master Wayne, please don't take this opportunity away from me," Alfred replied. "Good luck, sir." He sent a smile and seated on the driver's seat. Bruce turned his back for the last time, and watched as the car slowly disappeared.

He looked at the paper on his hand, showing which classes he will be having this year. While he was trying to find out his first class, biology, a slap hit his neck. "Wayne! Wayne!" The boy shouted and Bruce tried not to roll his eyes.

"What are you doing here?" Thomas Elliot, his long life friend - it took some time to call him that - also went to this school, as predictable. As much as he loathed him there were so less he could do about that.

"I'm going here." Bruce said with a tone noticably annoyed. He tried to keep this conversation as short as possible.

"Wow," Thomas said to his friends next to him, smirking in a way he did when he was mocking little children back at home. "You finally agreed on living among men? Alfred must have spent a lot of time trying to get you out from your cave." He and his friends laughed in unison, couple of them cheering for Thomas himself.

"Why don't you find someone else to deal with," Bruce started, holding his fist steady under. "I don't know, maybe someone at your age. Try the kindergarten."

Thomas frowned, but didn't let this pass by. "Oh, I thought you went there!" He took the package Alfred gave to Bruce, held it in the air so all his friends could see. "Since your babysitter Alfred still feeds you." He imitated Bruce as he was crying like a baby. " _Ooh, nobody likes me, I'm an orphan and my mom and dad died at a shit hole-_ "

That was the last straw and Bruce couldn't hold back anymore. While Thomas was laughing stupidly, Bruce hit his face with his right fist, sending the boy to the ground.

All his friends were at shock, as a boy leaner than their huge Thomas was able to knock him out. Bruce looked around in fear, it was his first day and only in fifteen minutes, his name would be already in the rogues' list.

There it was, a teacher running to the scene. His friends helped Thomas get up, and the teacher handed him a towel to stop the bleeding on his lips. She looked at Bruce, her brows crossed and a face showing the only thing Bruce though what people thought about him. A ' _freak_ '.

"You, young man," She pointed at him. "You're coming with me to the headmaster's office." Thomas shot a last smirk before Bruce turned away to follow the teacher.

 

  
"Bruce Wayne," the headmaster said, showing him the seat. "What is it? Something wrong happened?"

As soon as the teacher closed the door, she started to talk. "He laid Thomas on the ground, Mr. Gordon. I don't know why, but from what I could see Thomas didn't carry anything to hurt Bruce." The headmaster glanced at Bruce, trying to understand what could have happened to make such a gentleman as Bruce do that. Even in here, he was as silent as the night, just listening to the teacher's complaints. "Just look at him, it's obvious Bruce hit him first."

"What happened, Bruce?" Mr. Gordon said patiently, interrupting Mrs. Zakarta's long speech.

Bruce looked at the old man, and started talking slowly. "He said things unacceptable."

Mr. Gordon sighed, picked a blank paper from the huge piles. "Then there's less I could do, I'm afraid, Bruce." He signed an information about his detention after class, and handed it to Bruce.

He took it without any word, and raised from his seat to leave the room. Mrs. Zakarta looked back at Mr. Gordon, who was watching the boy in curiosity.

* * *

 

Biology class was interesting, and clearly one of Bruce's favourite subjects. Dr. Dullmacher brought a frog for each pair to inspect their anatomy. Classic project, Bruce thought, but at least it was educational. Dullmacher stated that they will be seperated in pairs, so as one of them did the hand work, the other one could report what they have found.

A girl sitting next to her put her hand on his shoulder. "So, Bruce," she said. "Would you like to be my partner?" Bruce couldn't tell if she meant only for this project or for a life time.

"I would love to," Bruce lied. "But I think Mr. Dullmacher had already paired everyone." He pointed at the paper the teacher was holding on his hand. The girl looked disappointed, and turned away as she mumbled something about boys.

Dr. Dullmacher started to read the pairs. Bruce paid attention as he heard his name being read. "You're with Clark." He was uninterested enough to meet with his classmates, so he had no idea who that was. He looked around to see him, and saw a boy with glasses like he lived in the 40s, wave his hand and send a smile.

After he finished the list, Dullmacher told they will be starting tomorrow. "I want every one of you to be ready. Spend an hour away from your phones and look up some researches for a better mark on your project. Dismissed!"

Everyone started to get up and leave, and Bruce joined them, picking up the books and his notebook, walking to his locker. He ignored that boy, Clark, following him in a hurry.

He opened his locker and put the previous class' needs, but as he was trying to pick up the algebra book, he couldn't ignore Clark anymore, who had been there, nervously trying to start a conversation.

"Is there something you wanted to tell me, Clark?" He smiled. Clark didn't seem so bad, and he didn't do anything except trying to talk.

Clark coughed, obviously tried to smooth his voice. "I, I wanted to ask if it's... _I don't know, if it's okay for you to..._ Uhm." He scratched his hair, and tidied his red tie. "If it's alright for you to sit and talk about the project at the lunch." He smiled with his teeth showing – no, his teeth _glowing_.

"Sure," Bruce said. "Just be sure to show up on time, you know?" He winked, and closed the locker.

"Uhh, great!" He watched Bruce leave, but he still tried to keep the conversation. "I'll see you then!" He shouted, but he knew Bruce wasn't listening anymore. Clark knew he was going to be a freak in this school. He was just an uninteresting farm boy.

Except he was totally wrong. To the young millionaire, Clark was the only interesting person he met that day.


	2. Basic Animal Anatomy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's just getting real.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, help me with something. Should I include each characters' special powers in this story or just keep it realistic?

It felt like an eternity until the lunch time. More than the half of the students rioted over the big garden, racing each other to hold tables for their friends. Bruce, on the other hand, just walked over one of the smaller tables and sat down.

As the table was empty, it didn't take long until other students came near it. Bruce studied the guy. Blond hair, blue eyes, tall and with a smirk on his face. He looked at Bruce, and spoke with confidence. "Can I sit here?"

"Yeah, no problem," Bruce replied. He wondered how this guy was just so comfortable with everything. "I didn't see you around before."

"Well, I was kinda late, but we're in the same class," the boy smiled, and passed his hand. "I'm Barry, Barry Allen. You really wouldn't wanna know my full name."

Bruce laughed, then took his hand. "Bruce Wayne."

"I know," Barry said. "Everyone seems to know you here." He began to drink his coke out of the glass bottle.

Bruce started to unpack his own lunch. "Where are you from?" He realised Barry really was too kind to be from Gotham. Here people were nice to you only for two reasons: Money, and prestige.

"Central City. Took me some time to get a scholarship, I'm just relieved I'm finally here." Barry looked at the sky. It was cloudy, and dark. Just the usual Gotham weather. "Does it ever get sunny in here?!"

While he was sipping his orange juice, Bruce replied. "For a few days."

"That just makes me want to go back hometown even more," Barry sighed. "I already missed Iris." He waited for a reply until he saw Bruce's curious look, he realised he needed to explain. "My girlfriend. This is very hard for us. We barely spend hours apart from each other, now we live miles away."

"I don't think I could ever work out long distance relationships," Bruce stated, and took one bite of the sandwich. He couldn't help but admire the taste. He was hungry and Alfred was a great cook. "Hell, I don't think I can work out close distance relationships anyway."

As the both were laughing, Clark appeared at the center of the garden, standing alone with his lunch tray on his hands. "He's such a loser," Bruce whispered, then shouted at Clark, waving his hands. "Clark! Come over here!"

Clark ran slowly over the table, smiling brightly and radiating positiveness. It was _almost_ annoying. "Hello." Now he was near him, Bruce realized the books he was holding under his arm.

"This is Barry," Bruce said pointing at the boy next to him. "He is our classmate."

"Nice to meet you," Clark said, but as he passed his hand, the books under his arm fell to the ground. " _Oh_ , great."

He bent down to pick up his books but another hand caught them before he could touch them. "Here, let me get these for you." He put the books on the table.

"Thanks!" Clark said, and sat on the table. Finally, Bruce thought. Barry watched as the guy who caught the books walk away. He seemed very... _different_.

"So what are these for?" Barry asked, and Clark suddenly showed a lot of excitement one would find scary.

"Well, me and Bruce agreed to work on our project Dr. Dullmacher assigned for us. So I found a few articles about what we need to know and brought this fantastic book: 'Basic Animal Anatomy', by Emile Dorian. It's a great read..." Clark started to talk with enthusiasm, meanwhile Bruce and Barry were looking at each other with shock.

Half-time through the break, Clark didn't even have a chance to touch at his food. "Aren't you supposed to eat your lunch, Clark?" Bruce asked, and Clark stopped talking – much to Barry's relief.

"I'm sorry, guys. If I ever bother you again please do tell." Clark apologized which made things worse. He was being very polite again. _Very_.

"It's okay," Barry answered. He looked at his already finished hotdog remains and two coke bottles. "Do any of you know who my partner is, anyway?"

Clark raised his shoulders, and Bruce shook his head.

 

  
English class was even more depressing than watching Clark unceasingly apologizing to you. Jervis Tetch, their teacher, appointed them with reading Alice in Wonderland from the first day of the school.

"Great," A girl complained, she was sitting across Bruce's desk. "More homework."

"You are to prepare a very detailed summary of what Mr. Caroll taught you and how you can use these lessons in real life." Mr. Tetch told the class. "I am very eager to learn, as you all should be."

"I can help you with it, if you want, baby girl." Oliver, Bruce's very close friend from his childhood, answered the girl.

"No, thanks," The girl replied. "Creep." Oliver was, well, one would describe him the complete opposite of Bruce. Playful, cheerful, and social. Never unlucky with girls. Except this girl was no ordinary, it seemed.

Bruce couldn't help but laugh underneath. Oliver pouted for the rest of the class. However, when the bell rang and everyone got out, he saw the two talk outside to class – without angry faces.

"We're going to stop by the Big Belly Burger, you're coming?" Oliver asked. "This is Dinah, by the way. We decided we could give each other a chance before killing each other."

"Thanks, but I have to stay for detention." Bruce said while walking away. "We should hang out soon, though!" He saw Oliver nod his head and leave the building through the door.

 

* * *

 

There were only five students in the room, and the teacher seemed to care less about this than the students did. Bruce got inside without saying a word, with the book Clark gave him to study on. Way to spend two hours.

He put "Basic Animal Anatomy" on the very scrabbled desk. It was hard to even see what color the desk was made of. The school was old, alright. The book was not _basic_ at all, it was so thick and hard to even carry. He opened the sector "Chordata", and chapter "Amphibians", started to read. On the page 2, he suddenly felt a paper ball hit his neck.

He looked around but everyone seemed to be minding their own business. He went back to reading but it wasn't even a minute until he felt another one hit. This time, he turned his back immediately, and caught the girl who have been blowing them in the act.

"Stop it!" Bruce whispered, but the girl just laughed under her jacket. "I don't want any trouble, okay?"

"Don't give up that easily, Wayne!" She said, and blew another paper ball. But Bruce caught it before it could hit his neck, and the girl looked surprised.

"I said stop it." He threw the ball at her, but she shouted loudly on purpose, thus drawing the teacher's attention to them.

"You two! What's going on there?" He shouted, and every single student turned their faces to see what's going on. Even the girl who was napping while listening to music on her headphones plugged them out, and gave the two attention.

"Nothing, we were just–" Bruce started but the girl interrupted him.

"We're just doing homework; look, _frogs_ , Mr. Sanchez." She raised the book to let the teacher see it.

He narrowed his eyes, showing that he barely believed it. However, he was too busy to care about children, and their way of handling things. "Well, study quieter next time!" He shouted and then went back to play the game on his phone.

Bruce watched the girl move her stuff – basically, just the paper tube and her bag – to the next desk. "Clark is the best partner you could have ever get, Wayne." She opened up a gum packet she picked from her bag and threw one in her mouth. "The guy could list you every single particle of the universe. Without breathing for a second."

"I know. I've always been a lucky person." They were talking very quietly. Mr. Sanchez was checking on them regularly, and they could easily feel a pair of eyes watching them. "So who's your partner?"

"Some guy called John Jones. He's very sweet, though. Helped me carry my books to my locker this afternoon." The girl's answer reminded him of the guy who helped Clark at lunch. She passed him the gum pocket. "Want one?" As Bruce just shook his head, she continued. "What I meant was, you really don't need to study for this. He could finish this project single-handedly."

"Thing is, I don't want him to. I'm an honest person, I don't want to take credit for something I didn't do." Bruce stated strictly, not moving his eyes an inch from the girl's blues for a minute. "Why are you here?"

"Not every guy here is like John," she said as she put her feet on the desk. "One of them tried to touch me, and I made him touch the ground."

 _Wow_ , Bruce thought. "He deserved that."

"He did," she spitted. "What about you?"

"It's... complicated. Guy said something he shouldn't say." Bruce replied. He thought of what Alfred thought him to think of in times like this. _Vengeance is not the right way._ "I deserved this."

"So you say, you took credit for something you didn't do," The girl didn't think he was the one who should be sitting there at that moment. "I thought you said you were an honest person."

"I'm only honest with those who I know about. At least their names."

"It's Diana," she said, huffling. "You could have just asked my name instead."

"It wouldn't be as much fun." He pushed his desk near Diana's, making them one long desk. "You up for some 'Basic Animal Anatomy'?"

Diana laughed. "Hell yeah."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope I'll be able to update like this much regularly, but I wouldn't count on it. I might be the laziest writer you might ever witness.
> 
>  
> 
> **Also, it would be great if you could answer the question I asked you in the beginning.**


	3. Courses: Round One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mrs. Bertinelli will make them sweat. A lot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to a school specialized for science students and I still know nothing about biology. Why am I this lazy?
> 
> But, I accidentally deleted half of this chapter and I have to rewrite it. It may take a little longer than I expected to update. Stay tuned.

"This is all your fault," Barry shouted in anger, just like the majority of the class in the first minutes of the Biology lesson. Almost no one studied for the project and everyone just lost their minds seeing all the dead frogs at the lab. Two students even fainted. "Why didn't you tell me you were my partner and we could have at least knew a thing or two!"

His partner spitted back quickly. "How's this my fault? Have I freaking tied you up? You, yourself could have studied on your own!"

"I thought I would be the one to cut the frog, and you'd be the one who take the results!" Barry shouted.

"I thought the same for myself!" The guy shouted back. Dr. Dullmacher walked near their table, and watched in agony as Barry and Hal tried to open up the frog's stomach. _At least it's already dead_ , he thought.

"Boys, calm down," he said while he was splitting them apart and taking the blades off their hands. "Look at Diana and John, and learn how to do it."

The pair watched as John told Diana how to cut the body in order and what she'll be seeing at each step. Then Diana told what happened when she dropped single drops of the mix John prepared, and he wrote down the transformations on his report.

"Dude," Barry said. "We're so gonna flop." Hal just agreed their approaching end.

On the other hand, Bruce thought he and Clark were handling things pretty well so far. Bruce knew his way with chemicals and Clark was the hand power. He had already prepared the mix they needed for the transformation back at home and they didn't waste time on it. Clark knew where to and how to cut the body so he was doing his job pretty quickly. Both of them were taking notes as they agreed on merging them together and creating a summary at the end.

It was Ray Palmer and Carter Hall who were the absolute best during this lesson. They were so coordinated and hard working, it was so hard to keep track on them, as well as finding it hard to believe they were students and not real lab workers for years.

Barry picked up the ingredients needed for the mix, carefully placing them on the table. He poured two chemicals in the glass, watched them gather to create another. "This is actually fun." Barry stated, however, Hal was just sitting there, examining the dead frog without knowing anything about what he was doing.

In the break, the only ones who finished the project were Ray and Carter. _Not unpredictable_ , Bruce thought. He and Clark needed to finish this project by this week, before other teachers surrounded them with more homeworks.

Next class was PE, and all of the students silently went into their changing rooms. As the rooms were divided by genders, there was enough space for all of them.

Bruce sat on the long stool, already dressed in his sportswear, tying his sneakers. He watched as Clark struggled to wear his top, his arms looking like they are about to tear the shirt apart. _God, was that shirt too tight._

"Here, let me help," Bruce offered, and Clark mumbled some stuff he didn't care about at the moment. He held the shirt in a position to help him move his arm and slip it through the hole. "There you go."

"Thank you!" Clark said while tidying his shirt. "Do you know what we will be doing today?"

Bruce shook his head, but Hal seemed to know about it. "They are going to choose players for the football team, so it means we'll be tested through some obstacles and mostly, running."

Barry walked in to the conversation. "Running? That's what I'm about!"

"You were _late_ on the first day of the school." Hal replied, but Barry didn't even care to reply.

The students looked like immigrants thrown to a football stadium. Girls took their places on the stands, and they started their own election for cheerleading. The coach, Mrs. Bertinelli, blew her whistle and shouted loudly.

"Listen to me, you nerds! If you want to be in the team, you must prove yourself with all you got! There are going to be several different courses for all kinds of students, I'm sure you'll find where you most identify with," she stopped, watched as all of her students kept standing up in fear, no one moving. "What are you still doing here? Move your butts at once!" She clapped her hands and the class seperated like little birds.

The first course was warming up, then running. Lots, and lots of running. They were divided by five students per lap, to test their speed.

The first ones to race were Arthur, Victor, Terry, Barry and Ted. Clark and Hal cheered for Barry, while Bruce asked if he was feeling excited. "First ones are always tested with the hardest."

Barry scratched his legs and arms, and took position. "Cheer up, dark prince. I got this."

Silver, who was probably choosen because of her looks, waved the start flag and they all started to run. Barry was keeping a good pace but he was not on the front line. Victor was on the front and Arthur was on his tail. Hal shouted at him. "C'mon, buddy! Don't let me down."

Barry glanced at him, then immediately turned to face Arthur. He was the second one. He closed his eyes, thought about Iris, her blue eyes, her ginger hair, her beautiful smile, her beautiful structures.

He opened his eyes and kept running. Running without looking around, thinking about time or anything at all. Just feeling the soft breeze hit his skin.

He stopped running as he heard the whistle. He made it. He earned it. He passed the first round on the way to join the team. "Yes!"

Clark, Bruce and Hal were just as happy. Hal and Bruce jumped off the wall, meanwhile Clark hurried over the gate instead. _Maybe old school,_ Clark thought, _but at least safe._

They all hugged together until Mrs. Bertinelli saw them. "Okay, love birds! There are still people that need to compete, and you, Barry," she pointed at the winner as she narrowed her eyes. "You are still _very_ far away from joining the team."

Next group to race were Bruce, Hal, Carter, Oliver and John. This was going to be a hard one because almost all of them were Bruce's friends or at least acquaintances, plus, Bruce didn't really have intentions of joining the team at all.

As soon as Silver waved the flag, Carter flied like a bird, John and Oliver following behind. Hal was at the end. "I... really... got rusty..." Bruce could hear him managing to speak between inhalings.

Bruce was going to pass Oliver but as he was looking at his back, watching Hal and thinking what to do to help him, he stepped on a small brick not really easy to see. Oliver asked him while still running on a low tempo. "You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," he answered. "Don't worry about me, just go!" He faced Hal still trying to run, but he saw Bruce lying on the ground and stopped running much to his relief.

He laid down next to Bruce. "This is the end of my life. _I am dead_."

Bruce huffled. "You shouldn't give up this easily." He inspected the hit that brick caused on his ankle, then wrapped the area with a piece he tore out of his shirt. He raised himself up and gave a hand to Hal. It didn't take a lot to get Hal standing up, it seemed he was back in the game, both physical and emotionally.

"I'm not the one to give up easily, actually, but," Hal watched as the other runners ran past them, they were about to finish the race. "We lost." He saw Bruce smile. "And you don't even seem sad about it!"

"Because my friend won," Bruce replied. "Congratulations, Oliver!" He clapped his hands at him but Hal just grunted.

After a few groups of racers, finally Clark's group was going to race. Bruce couldn't help but think Mrs. Bertinelli divided the groups intentionally to create havoc for the earlier groups as they were more sportive and fun to watch because they compete with their life depending on them; meanwhile these later appearing groups were just totally not about sports at all.

Almost nobody cared for these groups, as most of the students already raced and they were hungry, they started to eat their food. Barry brought up his to the stands and sat on his seat next to Bruce's. Hal was still grunting.

Clark seemed like a parody joke with that tracksuit on him. They all took position, and started to run. Clark was at the end of the line. Barry turned his head to his food, Hal picked up one of his fries. Bruce was still watching the race.

Suddenly, the race began to change. Clark was pushing up to his hardest, and just passed one of the racers to become the third runner. Bruce hit Barry and Hal with a fist to raise their attention. "Look! He's going through!"

Hal and Barry watched in surprise as he passed Giovanni at the last second and became the winner. They shouted like they were some kind of hippopotamuses. _Happy hippopotamuses_ , to be exact.

After Giovanni congratulated him with a respectful handshake; Bruce, Barry and Hal congratulated him with a big hug. "Dude, that was freaking awesome." Hal stated.

"Thank you guys," Clark said. "I really don't know how this happened."

"We don't know either!" Barry laughed then they all went to see what the next course was.

The second course was for accuracy. The same groups were to compete again for this course. They will try to hit the board on certain points with little darts Mrs. Bertinelli gave them.

This time, Bruce's group were the first to try. Carter picked up one dart, and threw it to the board. It hit the yellow coloured mark, missing the red area by a few inches only.

Next up was Hal, who was extremely excited about this course. "See me throw these at your butt, Carter!" Carter looked at Hal with a face that could scare old men to death. "Haha, well... maybe not. I should probably throw these at the board instead."

He picked up one dart, and started to turn around himself. "This is for a better start!" Mrs. Bertinelli facepalmed, she looked so disappointed in everything about Hal. The dart he threw barely hit the board, hitting the edge.

John took the next dart. He threw it without saying anything, and his dart hit right next to Carter's. They glanced at each other saying nothing.

Oliver came to pick a dart, and threw it with high confidence. "Archery is my thing, baby." He said as he watched the dart hit the center. Everyone went crazy, shouting and cheering for Oliver.

Bruce walked next to Oliver, and threw his dart. It hit right next to Oliver's dart, the two darts barely keeping it together. He looked at Bruce with huge shock on his face while grabbing another dart to throw. Crowd was just nuts at that moment; one half supporting Oliver, the rest supporting Bruce.

Oliver's next dart found it's place in the center again, and it was now three darts which found their point. Bruce picked up another dart, and threw it with a big smirk. It ripped Oliver's first dart to two darts, and as they fell to the ground, Bruce's last dart hit the center. Oliver was going to continue this, however, there were no darts left.

Everyone was at shock, even Mrs. Bertinelli was silent, until she shouted at Bruce. "You better give the headmaster that dart's cost, Mr. Wayne," she turned to all of the competitors. "Everyone! Take your showers immediately!"

Bruce turned to Oliver, who collapsed to the ground, looking at the board sadly. He started mocking him. "Archery is my thing, baby!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Bruce, your gay is showing.**
> 
>  
> 
> \+ The next update will be better. Believe me.


	4. Meeting and Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Friendships begin with sharing. Relationships begin with accepting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one took longer than I expected. Did you know this is the most regularly updated fanfic of mine?

After taking a cold shower, Bruce took his way to the Big Belly Burger where he and Oliver agreed to meet at. But the table already seemed so full, with nine people being present: Oliver and Dinah, who arrived to hold the table; Barry and Clark, who arrived secondly; Hal and Diana, who Barry called over; John, who Diana brought with herself and finally, Carter and Shiera who were just passing by and decided to sit with them.

"I see we're all here," Bruce said while sitting down next to Clark. "Nice thought."

"I thought we could all meet and mingle, get to know each other more," Oliver explained. "Me and Bruce already know each other, so tell us about yourself, Clark."

Clark scratched his hair, and then put his hand on his neck. It didn't pass by Bruce that he always did this when he was nervous. "Well, there's not much to say," Clark started as he fixed his view by straightening his glasses. "I'm from Smallville." Everyone just stared back at him. "Ever been to Kansas?"

"Gosh, no," Barry said. "So what were you doing there before you came here?"

"Farming – basically, helping my dad on his business. Life was simple back there, Gotham is... well, how to put it..." Clark said when Shiera completed his sentence for him.

"More _alive_ , I think?" Clark nodded, and Sheira continued. "Me and Carter come from Egypt. We both decided finishing our education here on the USA will be the best for us." They cuddled for a second. "What about you, Hal?"

"Me?" Hal was surprised, he was just sitting there between Diana and Barry, thinking about what to order. "I'm from Coast City. Way far from here. I'm a scholarship student as well as Barry."

"Me too," John placed an input, and people could tell he was inspecting the menu for a while. "I'm not usual with American customs, what kind of nutrition would you recommend?"

" _Nutrition_?" Dinah whispered, then turned to Clark. "Well, Clark, anyone you were interested in back at... Smallville, was it?"

"Yes," Clark said, gaining everyone's attention. He then realised what they thought he meant. "I mean, it's Smallville, yes." Everyone sighed in unison.

"Come on, Clark. It's not that hard to admit, besides, none of us will know who it is," Diana said. "So we can't really make fun of you, _sadly_."

Clark smiled, then opened up. "Alright. There was this girl, with ginger hair and green eyes, and a perfect smile." Bruce realised he was telling all these from deep down of his heart. Perhaps he was still bearing it with himself.

"Dude," Barry interrupted. "That sounds a lot like Iris."

"Her name was Lana. She and I were very close, told us everything about each other. Thing is, she always saw me only as a friend, I guess." Clark looked down, and then put the menu on his hands on the table. "I think I'll take one cheeseburger."

"Make it two." Bruce told the waiter standing next to their table with a notepad on his hand.

"I want a child's menu," Hal said as everyone turned to look at him. " _What_? I need collectibles."

"Can you get me one from that 'child menu's as well?" John asked the waiter, and he wrote down another.

After everyone placed their orders, Bruce asked Diana a question with a kind smile. "Diana, how about you tell us where you're from?"

"You probably never heard of it, but I'm from Themyscira." Diana replied. "Samsun, Turkey. It's a cool place. I came here for the same reason as Sheira and Carter."

"Well, we're all happy to see you here," Oliver said in his sure-of-himself voice. _He already sounds like a businessman,_ Bruce thought. "So, any of you picked up and started 'Alice in Wonderland'"?

Diana sighed. "Are you really gonna bring up the subject of school here?" They all laughed, and Bruce continued.

"If you like English that much, you can do my homework, Oliver."

"Don't," Oliver answered, ashamefully. "Anyway, I was trying to start a conversation."

"Apparently, you've failed." Carter said in his serious voice and everyone kept laughing.

"Alright, I know what to talk about," Diana said as their orders arrived, and the waiter put every single one of them in front of them. "Let's talk about our biggest failures."

"Fine, I'll start," Oliver said. "I was at Bruce's, and we were going to swim in their pool. We were 9 or 10, I'm not sure."

"Oh, please not _that_ one, Oliver." Bruce asked him laughing.

"I've already started, sorry," Oliver answered before he picked one out of his nachos and dipped in the souce. "So, Alfred took Bruce to suit him up, and told me to wait so he could clothe me aswell after he was done with Bruce. But I was being myself again, and I thought I could do it by myself."

Bruce bit his cheeseburger, and talked quickly before Oliver could step in. "He wore his swimwear upside down and ran around the pool with his member out."

Everyone went lunatic, and laughed with all their lungs out. "What the hell?" Barry said between his chuckles. "I ordered a hot dog, thanks Oliver."

"You asked for it." Oliver said. He thought if he embarrassed himself in front of Dinah, but she seemed okay with it, as she's already joined them laughing.

"Me next," Dinah said. "I had to stay late at school, and, let's just put it, my elementary school was a public school. We didn't have these luxury bathrooms."

"Tell me about it." Hal said while he was sipping his coke.

"It was my best friend's birthday, and we ate a lot of pastry stuff, and drank a load of refreshments. 3 or 4 liters, probably," Dinah stopped, closed her face with her hands, her platin blonde hair falling in front of them. "God, this is so embarrasing."

"I don't think anything can be more embarrassing than what happened to Oliver." John said.

" _Gee_ , thanks." Oliver replied.

"Okay... I'll tell. I peed myself on my way to home and it was very visible," Dinah finished her story, still covering her face. "I used to walk to my home when I was 6."

"Don't worry about it, Dinah. This is nothing compared to mine," Carter jumped in. "My family was throwing a celebration, lots of guests were at our place, so my father and my mother were pretty freaked out."

"In our culture it is most important to serve the guests well." Shiera informed.

"They assigned me with a lot of responsibilities, and well, let's just say, I wasn't really interested," Carter continued. "I was tidying the guests' shoes in front of our door, and taking the ones that were ours. So I picked one pair, thinking it was my mom's. I was really angry with her at that moment – all the kids were playing outside and I had to deal with these stuff."

"Standing right next to the door, there's Hall family's trash can," Sheira started telling. "So he drops the pair inside, mixes them with a stick he found _God knows_ where."

"Then I picked it out with a pair of gloves, and cleaned its inside," Carter bent his head down. "Apparently it was my father's boss' wife's shoes. I made my father get fired."

"I bet he was furious." Bruce said.

"Furious is a _loose_ term," Carter laughed. "At least he got a better job after that."

Diana looked at Bruce. "What about you? I don't think you've ever been embarrassed in your whole life."

"That's not true," Bruce started. "I'm sure Oliver can tell one." He turned to Oliver, but he raised his shoulders.

"Sorry, flyboy," Oliver said. "You're just Mr. Perfect. You've always been."

"Can we count this as an embarrassing moment, then?" Bruce asked as a joke.

They kept talking till the closing hour, with giving more orders and getting a chance to see the live band too. They all exchanged numbers that evening, and promised each other to do this more often.

 

* * *

 

When he arrived the Wayne Manor, Bruce was already too exhausted and ready to sleep. He stepped in the living room, dropped his bag under the coffee table and saw Alfred standing by the door.

He told him he didn't make dinner, because Bruce informed him earlier that he'll be at Big Belly Burger. "But if you need anything, I can prepare something quick, Master Bruce."

"No, Alfred," Bruce replied as he threw himself at the couch. His spine comforted as it felt the soft fabric of the big sofa. "I've eaten so much. Maybe _too_ much, even. I'll be fine. You can take your rest."

Alfred smiled as he put the blanket he already brought before on Bruce. "As you wish, Master Bruce. Good night."

Bruce waited until Alfred closed the door to pick up the laptop standing on the coffee table. He opened up the browser, and leaned his back. It was noted mentally on his brain at the first moment Clark spoke about this... Lana. He had to check and see who she was, and the easiest way to find out was to use Facebook.

He logged in to his fake account, named " _Matches Malone_ ". This way he could surf easier on the internet, without his every action being followed and broadcasted everywhere.

"Let's see who you are," Bruce spoke to himself. He typed the words " _lana_ " on the search bar and typed " _Smallville High_ " on the school filter.

There was only one person that applied to these specifications: Lana Lang. He clicked on the name and began examining her profile. She was just a normal girl, with an average amount of friends, and usual updates on her feed.

He looked at her pictures, unfortunately most of the albums were private to strangers. He clicked on the profile pictures album, and scrolled down to see a particular one. Clark and Lana, standing next to each other, with their arms on each other's shoulder.

Bruce couldn't help himself get annoyed. What was happening to him? He never felt like this before. He had been angry a lot of times... but just because he saw someone with a person he didn't even know was making him angry at the moment. She might even be a good person, he realised he was showing prejudice.

He clicked on Clark's face to see his profile. Every single information possible was set up on his info page. Bruce didn't even want to talk about how his profile picture looked like something out of a passport portrait. Who knew, maybe it was.

He looked at his relationship status, and read the words " _seeing someone_ ". What the hell? He didn't tell anything about that today.

Bruce sighed to himself. He was being obnoxious. They've been friends for a few days and there he was feeling like they were life long buddies. "Of course he can keep things private," Bruce told himself. "He's just your friend, nothing more."

But was he? Was Clark just a friend for Bruce? He thought about him several times a day. Whenever he walked up to him he always talked with him, even though they lasted minutes, sometimes seconds. There he was, sitting alone in his house, all by himself, searching people of Clark's past.

But maybe this is happening because Bruce didn't have a lot of friends, and he was misjudging his feelings. However, if that was true, why hadn't he ever felt this for Oliver before? Or for Barry the day they met?

He memorized every word Clark said to him on the moment he talked to him after the first biology class. _"I wanted to ask if it's alright for you to sit and talk about the project at the lunch."_ He was nervous, he was anxious, but he was sincere.

He wasn't buttering him, he wasn't asking to be popular, he wasn't there to make a name for himself. He was there to make a friend. He was there to get to know him. He always asked about Bruce. He always wanted to know more about him. He always wanted to share with him.

He looked at the "Basic Animal Anatomy" book that got out from his bag, he must have forgotten to zip it. He picked it up and opened its cover. There at the back, there was Clark's name with his own handwriting. His fingers traced the ink, careful enough not to smudge it and mess it up.

He promised to himself, the next day he saw him, the first moment he saw him, he was going to tell him. Tell him everything. Tell him how he felt, how he made him felt, and how desperate he became standing next to him. _He was going to tell Bruce Wayne liked Clark Kent._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did a little research and Themyscira appeared to be in my home country. I knew it but I still wanted to be sure. So does that make Wonder Woman a Turkish hero? :D
> 
> Also, Bruce being jealous of Clark is my aesthetic.


	5. Shattering

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things starting to fall between Bruce and Clark. :(

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've probably had the worst weekend of my life – including this friday. What went through us Turkish people was no fun and games. Thanks to everyone who helped me go through that day, and everyone that has prayed for us. I hope nothing like that happens ever again.
> 
> Thank you for waiting all this time for me to update. This is a bit longer than I regularly write for this story. :)

"Rise and shine, Master Wayne," Alfred said while opening the curtains, letting the sunshine slip in the dark room. "The last day of school this week. Are you ready, sir?"

Bruce pulled the fabrics over his head, trying not to blind himself by the sudden light coming from the window. "I think I am," he replied Alfred, thinking of the decision he made yesterday.

"Well then," Alfred stood by the door. "I better prepare your breakfast while you get ready." Bruce nodded in response, and watched as Alfred went downstairs.

  
He picked up the summary he wrote yesterday night, and revisioned it for the last time before taking it to school to merge it with Clark's. Should he give this before he talked the subject with him, or after that? What if the talk goes unpleasant? _Better give it before,_ Bruce thought.

After he put on the Gotham Academy uniform, he went downstairs, to the kitchen, where a strong smell of pancakes surrounded the air. "Ah, there you are."

"And I'll be out in 5 minutes," Bruce said. "Or I'm going to be terribly late."

"I'm afraid I woke you up late, Master Bruce," Alfred replied. "After you spent the whole long night awake, I thought you'd like a long sleep." So Alfred knew he didn't sleep after he left. Bruce didn't say anything, instead, he peeked the pack Alfred prepared for lunch.

"Fries? How do you manage to have time for everything and I can't even get ready in 10 minutes?"

"I'm a professional, sir." He put the pancake on the plate in front of Bruce.

 

Everyone seemed pretty quiet when he arrived at the school. It was the last day of the school, so everyone was tired of it already. The energic feeling of the students from the first day of the school had already faded, it seemed.

Bruce walked in to look for Clark, searching through halls until he saw a friendly face. "Hal!" He called, and he turned to him. "Have you seen Clark?"

"Yeah, he was in class talking with someone." Hal replied, then turned to Barry. "If we don't get an A, I'll rip this place apart."

Bruce rushed to the class, opened the door, but only to reveal Clark talking with a girl he didn't see before. This wasn't Lana, he already knew how she looked. This girl had black hair with blue eyes, similar to Diana; however, shorter than her in height.

"Bruce!" He said to him, standing up. "This is Lois, she's new to the school. Mr. Gordon assigned me to tour her around here."

Bruce looked at Lois. She raised as soon as she heard his name. "Bruce?! As in _Bruce Wayne_?"

"Yeah," he replied as he took the hand Lois immediately passed. "Welcome to Gotham Academy."

"Thanks," she sat back down and turned to Clark. "I've known Clark for a while – we did our seasonal intern together last summer."

 _Friends from the past_ , Bruce thought. _Just the thing I needed especially today_. He wore his fake smile while replying her. "Well, me and Clark are partners in the biology project. We need to write our summary as soon as possible."

"Can't we do it on lunch time, after we've eaten? I have to show Lois around the school." Clark said. This was the first time ever Clark refused to do something.

"Of course, I'll text you to let you know." He said before taking his seat next to Diana's. "How's it going?"

"Not bad, actually," she replied. "It was a pretty good week. Hey, Bruce, can I ask you something?"

"Yeah?"

"Me and John were going to this new movie tomorrow, Saturday. You wanna come with us?" John looked at him behind Diana's shoulder.

"Sure thing," Bruce said. "Hey, have you finished your summary? Can I take a look?"

Diana passed him their file. Bruce couldn't help but think how professional it looked. He wondered how Ted's turned out. He was going to ask them too – before he was interrupted by Barry and Hal who were surprisingly excited, running towards his table with their own report.

"Bruce, man!" Barry said, almost throwing him their report file. "You gotta look at our own! Say what you think, and if it needs any improvement."

"I just want to tell you guys, I'm very relieved that the biology class today is after the lunch." Hal told everyone. John laughed, muttering something about laziness.

Oliver and Dinah arrived at the same time, which didn't escape from Diana's eyes. "Hey, you two! Good morning!"

"Before you jump to conclusions, Diana, because I know you too _damn_ well," Dinah started. "Oliver picks me up to school from now on. It's faster that way." Oliver smiled, then nodded greetings at everyone.

Lois and Clark were in the middle of a heated conversation, discussing about the fate of the US economy. Carter touched Clark's shoulder, getting his attention. Then Bruce saw him sending Clark one of his greatest angry faces ever, and he felt ashamed of himself for being satisfied.

Philosophy class. As if this week hadn't been boring before. Everyone was talking about how the teacher was very mystical, from what they've heard. It was probably just a high school rumour, and Bruce heard a lot of them here.

The teacher arrived 5 minutes later when he saw everyone was already there, waiting for him. He commanded Ray to close the door, pointing at him. After he closed it, the teacher cleaned his throat. "Good morning everyone. I'm your philosophy teacher. We'll see each other for an hour each week, sp we better know each other. We won't have much opportunities to spend time together."

"What's yours, mister?" Vicki shouted from her seat, making the man smile from the corner of his lips.

"Most of you probably can't pronounce it, lady Vale."

"Either way, I would very much like to know it." She answered.

"It's Ra's al Ghul to you." He said, and everyone looked at each other, clarifying if they heard it right – if they could say it right. "However, I'm not here to discuss my name. I know each of your names, but I want to know if you know your names."

Everyone started laughing, as if this very-serious-looking-man joked. "What do you mean, Mr. Ghul?" Lois asked.

"What I mean is, miss Lane, do you know Lois Lane? Do you know what she's capable of and what not?" He stepped down from his desk. "Do you know your inner self, beautiful Ms. Lane?"

He walked up near Oliver, putting a hand over his shoulder. "Or do you, Queen, know what can you do if it meant for your life? What would you do? What are your borders?"

He turned to Bruce. "What would you do if your parents didn't die? How would you turn out to become? Would you still be this kind and polite gentleman we know you are, Mr. Wayne?"

Diana interrupted. "Mr. Ghul, is it really a good idea to bring this up right now?"

He turned to Bruce again. "Is Bruce Wayne uncomfortable with this?"

Everyone turned their heads to Bruce, staring intensely with their eyes open fully. Diana put her hand over his, and held it strongly. " _I'm fine_."

"Good. It is as I predicted," Mr. Ghul continued. "Your parents death made you stronger, Bruce. I'm not saying they deserved it, but it gave you more than it cost you." Bruce bent his head down.

* * *

 

After two hours of the calculus class, taking a break was very refreshing. Bruce walked to their usual table, or as Barry put it, their " _de facto headquarters_ ".

John and Diana arrived at the table after him, talking about Alice in Wonderland. "I'm halfway through the book, and I have no idea to write 'what it taught me'." She turned to Bruce. "Have you started it?"

"No, didn't have the time for it." Bruce replied. "Can I borrow your book? I didn't have time to pick it up either." He asked John.

"Of course, remind me upstairs, I'll give it to you from my locker." He smiled as Bruce thanked. They watched as Barry and Hal raised from Carter and Shiera's table, walking to their own at the moment.

"Lovebirds, pfft," Hal said. "Couldn't even spend a minute without giving each other eyes."

"Don't be jealous because you're all alone by yourself," Barry replied him as the two settled down. "I'd give a thousand bucks just to see my Iris smile at me."

"Dude, you know there's a thing called FaceTime. How about I arrange a call and you give me that thousand?"

Everyone laughed, but Bruce only smiled. Clark still hadn't showed up. He used to be the first one to hold the table. He reminded himself that he was probably showing Lois around, or perhaps they were eating together. Bruce reminded himself that he didn't have any right to decide what he can do and what he can't do.

He opened his lunch pack, took the two containers of fries Alfred prepared. He didn't think there would be two of it, but anyway, this was better.

Everyone turned to take a handful fries for themselves. "When you bring fries to school, you have to deal with your friends taking them, Bruce." Barry said, jumping outside the table.

"Where's he even going?" Hal asked, going after him.

Diana replied, shouting so he could hear her. "You'll see!"

When he returned, he brought 5 ketchup and 5 mayonnaise packets with himself. Everyone cheered as Hal put the newly bought coke and pop on the table. "What is this, surprise party?" John asked.

"Better it be for me," Oliver said, standing next to the table with Dinah near him. "Want anything else? We're going to buy our lunch."

"No, we're good," Bruce replied. "They're consuming all my food."

"That is the cost of good friendship." Hal answered. _He's right,_ Bruce thought. _Clark wasn't even here with us right now._

 

As soon as everyone finished their lunch, Bruce texted Clark. « _I'll be at the computer lab. Are you finished_? »

Barry and Hal went to biology class to finish their mistakes in their report. On the other hand, Dinah and Oliver told him they'll be at the gym to train themselves. John and Diana were at the library, she, trying to finish the book while John, starting his report. Bruce was all by himself.

He took his way to the computer lab. When he arrived, it had been 5 minutes already. He texted again. « _I'm at the lab, meet me in 7 mins, at max. We're running out of time._ » He checked his watch. They had 20 minutes left until class.

 

  
Clark followed Lois for a while. She said she saw a room as she was passing by, and that she didn't quite understand why it was locked. "Come on, Clark," she said as she was pulling him from his arm. "This way. I wanna see what's inside."

"Alright, just, slow down a little." He thought after he showed her inside, they could go back and sit with Bruce. They still haven't done the project report.

"Here it is, Clark. This room, it's locked." She showed the locked door to him, waiting for him to open the door with the key Mr. Gordon gave him. "You said it could open any door, right?"

"Yes," he approved, and when he heard the click sound, he turned to her. "See?" He opened the door for her, and they both got inside. As she was standing behind Clark, she reached to pick the key and closed the door.

"So it means it could lock any door, too." She winked and locked the room.

"Lois, what are you doing? We need to get back before anyone see us here." Clark said, trying to get the key out of Lois' hold. As he neared his body to take the key from her hand, she collapsed her own weight upon Clark's body. They found themselves laying above the floor, and the key dropped from her hand.

Clark tried to reach it one more time before Lois placed a kiss on his lips. "You have no idea how many times I wanted to do _this_ , Clark." He looked at her, her black hair falling and its tips touching his face. "You with your tight white shirt, benting down to seed flowers, showing off your abs as the sunlight shines upon you–"

He kissed her back to stop her from talking. "Please don't think about being a poet, Lois." This time when Clark kissed him, it wasn't like the two kisses before. This one was passionate, possessive, and long enough to leave them breathless at the end.

"That was..." Lois tried to say. " _Amazing_."

"We should do this more." Clark said, laughing. He put his hands over her waist, holding her close to himself. Lois was tracing Clark's jawline, seeming like there wasn't even an imperfect inch on his body. Releasing his tie, her hands continued his search on the shirt's buttons. When she opened them she started to put small, soft kisses on his neck.

Clark straightened up a little, leaning his back on the teacher's desk as Lois kept going. He pushed her away for a while to look at her face. Her _beautiful_ face. Clark kissed him one more time, his right hand on her neck. As the two were kissing, Clark slipped his other hand under her shirt.

He could feel Lois' hardening breathing inside his mouth, and Lois pushing her body more on Clark. He was about to release her bra, but he saw the clock at the wall behind her head. Two minutes until class.

"Lois, we have to go." She didn't seem to care about it, as she continued to wander down her kisses on Clark's chest. He pushed away Lois, this time more strict, then he turned her face to let her see the time.

"Crap," she said, pulling her hair to a ponytail. She tidied her shirt and skirt, pulled her socks up as Clark buttoned his shirt, and took the key above the floor.

He locked the room, then saw Lois took her way to girls' restroom. He himself walked to the boys' restroom.

* * *

 

Opening one computer, Bruce started to write down his research results on the document. In nearly 10 minutes, he finished his own, now he was waiting for Clark. _Did he forget,_ Bruce thought. But he messaged him twice, even if he forgot it, he couldn't possibly forget to check his phone.

Bell was going to ring in 7 minutes. He had waited long enough. "He isn't coming," he said to himself. _He won't._ Wherever the hell he was, he better had a good reason. He tried to finish the blank spaces with what he could find on the internet, then printed it quickly. The bell rang and Bruce could just left the room.

When he stepped inside, Clark and Lois were still nowhere to be seen. He looked at Diana. "It's nothing like Clark to be late to class," he said. "Like... _ever_."

"I know, right?" Diana answered.

Vicki turned to them. "Sorry for eavesdropping, you guys," she said. "But I saw them in the geography class. I might or might not peeked through the small window on the door."

"But geography class is usually empty in this hour." Bruce said.

"That's even better?" Vicki said laughing, then she turned to her back, spreading the news to her other friends.

Diana looked at Bruce. "I can't believe how gullible you are, Bruce." He stared at her without any expression. "No teacher and student is on the hall on Fridays. They were probably doing _it._ "

"On school!?" Bruce said a little too loudly.

"You know they don't have to finish it, or do it completely."

"On school!" He shouted again. "And he promised me to revision our report! I had to finish it all on my own."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Diana said. "I could have helped."

"Didn't want to bother you," Bruce answered, and then sighed. "Perhaps, this was better for me. Finally saw what kind of a person Clark is."

Diana didn't reply, just frowned. Clark walked in the class, let out his breath – he didn't know he was holding – in relief as he saw the teacher wasn't in. He sat on his desk and opened his notebook then started to drabble. Bruce waited for him to realize his mistake, but it was if Clark forgot it completely.

"Ahem," he coughed to gain his attention. "Are you seriously going to act like nothing is wrong, Clark?"

"What?" He looked at Bruce's angry face, then stopped for a minute. "Oh my god." Diana and John were watching them.

"This is the part where he'll begin to apologize until the end of the day." Barry said.

"I'm so sorry, Bruce," Clark started to explain. "It must've slipped from my mind! While I was showing around Lois, I forgot the next class was biology."

"Yeah. Pretty much," Bruce said. "I know what you two _really_ did, Clark. But don't worry, it's _fucking_ not my business." He raised his voice. It was raspy, and direct. "But this was a duo project. Means if you don't turn me your own work, we both fail. And because of your irresponsive behavior, I had to finish the report all by myself, no thanks to you."

Clark scratched his hair. "There's no way for me to fix this, is there?"

Bruce looked at him with dead eyes. He thought about what he decided last night. He told himself he was in love with this guy back then. He was right not to trust himself – he reminded himself a million times. He was misjudging his feelings for him.

He trusted him with all he got yesterday. He knew he shouldn't have. They only met days ago. Lois already told him that they met way before. And he couldn't even blame this on Clark anyway, it wasn't his fault that he loved someone else. Too top it all, Bruce never told Clark how he felt about him. How could he know?

Bruce promised to himself not to make this a lot harder than it already was. The problem was only and only Clark not returning his reports to Bruce. Nothing more. Not Lois, not what he did with her during the lunch.

He cleared his throat, turned his face away from Clark.

" _No._ "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bruce is such a drama queen. I mean, who trusts a person he met a couple of days ago?
> 
> Things will get REALLY complicated in the next update, probably. Thanks for reading, don't forget to comment!
> 
> Love, Melike.


	6. Theatre

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana and Bruce getting closer - meanwhile Bruce is getting into some detective work, and self-blaming shit. Our usual Bruce we love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry. This is just the drama needed to bring a better chain of events ;)
> 
> Also, **have you guys seen that Justice League and Wonder Woman footage they released at SDCC? Like, DC owns my ass right now.**

Saturday morning. Very early that even the birds weren't tweeting at each other. Alfred walked in to Bruce’s room on the second floor, to check on Bruce, and tidy his room a bit – he always did that every single day, and Bruce knew exactly when he'll step in and at which point. As Alfred started to fold his school uniform he threw on the floor last night, and he was about to take to the washing machine, he turned his head to face the butler.

"Alfred?" He asked softly, could barely manage to open his eyes. If there's one thing he didn't like about Alfred was probably how he always opened those curtains in the mornings to wake him up. Needless to say it was pretty effective.

"Oh, I didn't realize you were awake, Master Bruce." Alfred said jokingly, as he opened the windows to let the air in.

Bruce looked at outside, seeing the sun was almost rising, birds tweets’ reaching to his ears. "What time is it?"

Alfred checked his watch. "5.25 am, sir," he turned his face to Bruce. "Shall I prepare your breakfast right now?"

"I didn't think it would be this early," Bruce stated as he let his body out of the dark satin sheets and wore his slippers. "It would be nice, Alfred. Let's eat at the garden, shall we?"

Alfred smiled; he usually preferred to eat inside, at the long table. He came to understand that he’d done that when he was feeling more... depressed, and wanted to be alone. That table made you feel very alone. "You're certainly in a good mood today, sir."

Bruce's mind was occupied with the things happened yesterday, but he tried to forget all that. He always attached himself too much to memories. It was a bad habit. "Certainly." _There I lie again,_ he thought.

As Alfred went downstairs with Bruce’s filthy clothes in the basket on his hand, Bruce changed his outfit to something more casual. While he was combing his hair, he started to check the news on his phone. Nothing out of ordinary, just a few gossip posts about how he was seen at a public school – a part of the media talking he was trying too hard to be a " _folk_ " man, the rest finally approving something he’d done.

He put down the phone on the chiffonier, annoyed by the comments made by the reporters that didn't even know anything about him in real life. He shouldn't care that much – they were reporters after all, doing their job, he knew that. But something inside of him just couldn’t keep itself inside.

Bruce found himself staring at the mirror when instantly Alfred called him to the kitchen. He checked himself for the last time, tidying his gown and heading downstairs, to the kitchen.

 

"A bowl of cereal and some bread with jam. Hope you like it, Master Bruce." Alfred said with a tone of satisfaction, letting Bruce realize that he was so happy to see him like that. “I’ll put the silvers on the table outside in a minute, sir.”

Bruce slided to one of the chairs, standing next to the center counter. Alfred was cooking something else on the oven while he was bringing the plates to the table, something most likely for lunch.

"Alfred, you don't need to prepare me lunch this time. I'm going out with Diana today. And John."

But on the contrary, Alfred smiled. "It’s good to see you stepping outside except the school and the manor. Very nice, sir," he said and continued. "But I was preparing this for myself."

Bruce couldn't help but laugh. How would he turn out without Alfred? He thought of what Mr. Ghul said yesterday at the class, about his parents’ death. Would he be that kind of person, obnoxious and careless? He didn’t think so, because this way the way he was. He really cared about Gotham’s problems – not because he was just had to, because he felt like that. It was what his father and mother taught him. In any way, he didn't believe his parents deserved that kind of death, no matter what Mr. Ghul tried to tell him.

* * *

"We're going to be there in fifteen minutes, John," Diana said quickly while wandering around her room. "I'm preparing myself. Have you bought the tickets yet?"

 She put John’s call on speakers, putting it on her make-up table. His voice echoed in the room. "I have. _Yesterday_."

Diana put her hair in a loose ponytail. She didn't really like it this way, but her crown made it look better. As she was putting her red lipstick, she answered. "Perfect. I'm about to head to the street now."

She looked out of the window, seeing John waiting on his motorcycle. “Thanks for waiting outside.” She smiled at him, and then went downstairs, almost running towards the door.

"Let's go," John said to her. "We have ten minutes."

"That's more than enough."

As they arrived, standing in front of the theatre, started waiting for Bruce; he was on his way with Alfred driving him there. While they were passing the streets, he tried not to look at the old burnt theater. _Old memories, again._

"Stop here for a second, Alfred." He commanded. Alfred knowingly saddened, and stopped the engines. He picked up what he brought him with himself earlier from the empty seat next to him. He got out from the car, slowly walking on the Crime Alley. It wasn't called that until that night.

 _That night._ The night where everything turned upside down. _The Mark of Zorro_. Him and his parents walking out of the theatre; smiling, laughing, happy looks at each one of their faces. His father making a joke, making the other two chuckle. Sudden slowing steps.

 _"I'll take that necklace you're wearin', pretty lady."_ The robber's hoarse voice. His hand, pointing a gun at his mother. His father jumping in front of the burglar, taking a bullet hit, taking him out of this world. His mother's crying, her hands holding her Thomas, not wanting to send him to his last journey alone.

The criminal taking the pearl necklace, shooting her in the process. His eyes, fixed at Bruce, he ran through the alley, stepping into darkness. Bruce cursed himself everyday for not seeing his face that day. His teardrops had already blurred his vision back then; however, it wasn't enough for Bruce to stop blaming himself.

He opened the slim black box he brought, revealing two beautiful roses. He put it on the lonely pavement. "You're not forgotten." He whispered, as Alfred was watching from behind. His face seemed like he already knew what he just said.

His steps slowed down with every inch he closed down to Alfred, finally burying his face at the butler’s chest, embracing him, letting the tears he was holding drop. "It's okay, sir." Alfred said with his reassuring voice. Bruce was glad to have him.

 

He arrived two minutes late at the new theatre, built next to the city mall. John parked his motorcycle nearby, and the two of them were leaning on the wall. "Excuse me," Bruce spoke up. "I had to take care of some business on my way."

"It's fine, Bruce," Diana stated, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Let's just go see the movie."

"Uh, guys," John began. "I'm afraid you two will have to watch the movie alone."

"What does that mean, John?" Diana asked furiously, putting her hands on her waist.

John gulped at this view. Diana was dangerous when she became angry, and right now, it seemed like one of those moments. "I'm sorry, mom just texted – telling me to pick up my dad from the airport.” He put on his helmet in a hurry. “It’ll be his first day at the USA, so I was given the responsibility of taking him home. Gotta go!" John told while running to his motorcycle. "Have fun and tell me what you think of the movie later! _No spoilers_!"

Diana narrowed her eyes. "No promises!" She turned to Bruce. “I can’t even get mad at him right now. How will I even manage to go back home?"

"I'll give you a lift," Bruce replied as he passed the tickets Diana handed him, to the ticket checker in his cabin. He turned his face to Diana. "Don't worry about it."

The two walked in, found their seats and sat next to each other, the popcorn on Diana's lap. "So what was this movie about, again?" Bruce asked curiously.

"You have no idea, do you?" Diana asked back, and as she saw Bruce shaking his head, she explained. "Two heroes fighting each other over another friend of theirs."

"I swear, superhero movies get _dumber_ every year."

* * *

"John's asking how it was," Diana said. "Shall I reply with a spoiler?"

After the movie ended with a great new chapter’s beginning, the two went to the cafe at the mall, next to the theatre saloon. It wasn't too crowded, but it wasn't entirely empty either. Bruce wondered if anyone would recognize him – or worse, if there were any paparazzi around.

The waiter came near their table and asked their orders. Diana ordered a brownie, while Bruce only asked for a cup of coffee. When the waiter left, Bruce answered her. "Don't be mean, Diana."

"Well, he literally made a very dick move today," Diana answered as she dipped her fork onto her brownie slice. "And he has to pay."

"Wow," Bruce smiled while still looking around for any unwelcome guests. "I didn't know hanging out with me was a punishment."

Diana hit his arm jokingly, then looked at him seriously. "What’s going on, Bruce? Is something wrong?"

"Nothing, it's just..." Bruce started, but he was interrupted by her.

Diana didn’t seem very satisfied with his answer. “You’ve been acting weird the whole day. Don’t think I didn’t notice you looking around every two minutes since we sat here! And besides, you were late to our meeting point this afternoon. You sure there’s nothing wrong?”

Bruce understood there wasn’t an escape route from this situation. "It's a little... personal."

"Oh. Well, I understand." Diana turned her head to her plate, but suddenly looked right back at Bruce as she felt his hand on her own.

Even though he was completely sure of what he was about to do right now – trusting a person he only met last week – there was something _different_ about her. "On my way here, I saw that old theater again. Couldn't help it."

Diana closed her gaping mouth with her right hand. "I'm so sorry, Bruce. I've read stuff about that night on papers." She held Bruce's hand, whose hand was holding her own in a strong bond. "I don't know how that would be like, Bruce, but I'm sure they would be happy to see you like this."

"Like what, exactly; Diana? I'm a mess. I still don't know anything about who killed them, who took them from me..." He looked down at his coffee.

"Bruce!" She called to him. "You were just a child! There was nothing you could do! Absolutely nothing, do you hear me?" She put her hand on his chin, made him face her, then pulled his face to her own, her lips collapsing onto his.

"Wha– _mhhmm_!" Bruce managed to mumble stuff, but absolutely not making sense at all. Diana closed her eyes, enjoying the moment; while Bruce was still surprised, Diana cut the liplock. "What was that for?"

"To make you feel better." Diana replied, smirking at him. "Now be a good gentleman and drive me home."

Bruce kept staring at her surprised, while putting down money at the table. He called Alfred to pick them up.

 

 

Alfred was sitting at the bench, watching the garden while sipping his tea. It was already night, and Bruce knew Alfred would head to his room not long later. So he went upstairs, to his room. He changed to his pyjamas, and walked to his study room. He and Alfred designed this particular room to help him concentrate on his school work several years ago, and he had completed his elementary “school” in that room. It was designed to look like a personal office of some kind, a wide table with a desk lamp, facing the wide windows; two tall bookcases at the end of the room; and finally, a really big curtain-like map at the left.

But actually, underneath that map, there was something else. Bruce had created some kind of crime map and continued to put pieces for a while he could find. He made sure that Alfred didn't know about this or he'd put an end to that, Bruce was sure about it. As much as he loved Alfred, he couldn't let him get in his way. Especially after these last days he felt like working on it was the most important thing.

He was lucky enough to be informed by the police that day – there were no camera tapes looking in that direction, and all cameras had only one thing in common: the two bullet sounds. Nothing more. There were no witnesses but him only.

The only thing he knew about him was his voice, and those eyes he felt on him then. If he were to solve this crime and avenge his parents, he needed to know the main question behind it.

It was generally known in the city, that there were two gangs operating business: the Falcone family and the Maroni family. While he didn't believe the killer was involved in any if those families – if he were, he'd need not to burgle two of the most influential people on Gotham. No, Bruce knew he was a fruit of what those two families had caused to the city.

It was almost midnight, and Bruce saw the lights of the buildings going off one by one. He heard Alfred's footsteps, following him as he made his way to his own room and heard the click as the butler locked his room. It was now or never.

He picked one of his hats he used in the winter and cut holes on it to see through. He slipped his face in it, and tried to see around. The holes were good – he could see through, and he checked his appearance on the mirror. His clothes were definitely not appropriate to walk outside undetected.

Bruce went through all of his clothes in his wardrobe and chose a black coat to put over, and black sport leggings under. That way his movements wouldn’t be as limited. Putting his phone at his pocket, he slipped through the wide window. Fortunately, the working room was not so high above in the manor. _Just a few meters high_ , Bruce thought and reminded that to himself before jumping.

He looked at the tree near his window, and tried to jump to one of its branches; however, he couldn’t really reach to the one he was aiming his hand at. Even though he covered himself with his arms immediately, it still felt like he had been overrun by a tank. He stretched his body until suddenly, his phone vibrated madly.

The screen showed that the caller was Clark _. In the middle of the night?_ He didn't know if he should open or not. Not only because of what happened yesterday, and how mad Bruce was at him; but also because Alfred may hear him talking.

So he walked a few steps away from the huge building, and accepted the call. "Clark? It's midnight!"

He heard Clark sighing at the end of the line. "I'm sorry, Bruce. I shouldn't have called this late—" Bruce interrupted his speech and his apologize Bruce knew was coming next.

"Listen, Clark. This may be the worst time to call me." He climbed through the iron gates securing the manor, and moaned loudly as he hit the ground hardly – second time this night.

Clark suddenly gasped, obviously taking it the wrong way most possible. "Oh my god, were you—"

He stopped Clark talking while he was running through the long, curvy rail in front of the manor. He’d already made it to the main street. "No, it's nothing like that. I was —" A taxi rushed near him, passing him with speed. And of course, Clark heard it. _He always does,_ Bruce thought.

"What was that? Bruce, are you outside?!” Clark shouted at the other side of the line.

“Look, I could have declined this call at the start!” Bruce shouted back as he walked to one dark side street to hide for a minute. “We can talk later.”

“Bruce, what are you doing outside at this hour in the night?”

“I’ll call you.”

Clark didn’t sound like he was letting go this easily. “No, I’m coming there.”

“What are you going to do? Help me break in to the police station?”

“So that’s where you’re heading – good.” Clark said, and Bruce heard a door shutting. He was on his way. “I’ll meet you there.”

Bruce couldn’t do anything but shout in anger. “Great, just what I needed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you catch that Civil War reference? Don't worry, I was joking. I absolutely loved Civil War.
> 
> Plus, shit's about to get real in the next chapter.


	7. On the Run

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mission Impossible: Superbat Style.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was literally listening to the "Mission Impossible" soundtrack while writing this. It came on shuffle but I didn't pass it. Right now, it's playing on the background.

Bruce tried to ignore the fact that Clark might show up any minute, and climbed to the big wall surrounding the police archives building. There were alarms and the second he touched the ground he might have find his body explode.

So when he began to climb down, he looked around to see where the alarms were placed, and he was definetely not lacking luck. There were four of them – one for each wall, and they were all placed at the corners.

Bruce carefully started to swipe smoothly to right, and when finally he was there, he quickly worked on the machine's wires to stop the alarm. What he did was not fully stopping it but more like delaying it. He had fifteen minutes exactly, and he thought closing all this had to take upto 5 minutes only.

He swiped right one more time and before he could start to stop the alarm, he heard some noise coming from inside – from the room that had lights on. How could he didn't see that before? This could danger his life right away. He tried to stay still and continued his work on the alarm.

While he was swiping away once again, he heard two polices speaking. The first one was closing and locking the front door.

"Okay, Montaya, you lock the back door. I'll be waiting at the car."

"I never really understood why there are two doors for an archive building anyway." the woman, Montaya apparently, replied as she walked behind the building.

Bruce realized she could see him clearly when she would get at the back side. Plus, he couldn't touch the ground to move – there was still one alarm left, on the front of the wall. He tried to swipe his body as fast as he can, and he was almost going to fall.

"Ah!" He couldn't help but say when he tried as hard as he could to hold his grip on the edge of the wall. That, of course, didn't pass through Montaya's ears, as she quickly picked her gun from the holster on her belt and pointed at the walls randomly.

"Who's there?" She shouted and walked slowly to patrol the area. While she was doing that, Bruce stopped the final alarm and silently placed his feet on the ground. When none of the alarms ringed, he sighed in relief, and climbed the building to reach the open window on the right wing.

Montaya was holding a torch, looking out everywhere but she still couldn't see anything. She put the gun back on the holster as she heard the other police calling her. "Montaya! Can't you lock a door, for fucks sake?!"

"Shut up, Flass. I heard a voice, there's a trespasser." She replied angrily.

Bruce opened his phone's flash to look around. There were so many lockers on just the room he was in, and he saw it saying " _2000s_ " on the door's window. He opened the door and walked to the room saying " _1950-2000_ " on the door.

This room was bigger as it was for a longer time period, and back then the internet wasn't used to hold archives. So when he looked at the lockers, he realised all were named after places on Gotham and he had to find " _Park Row_ " to see if this archive had more evidence than he was informed when he was 8.

Meanwhile at the outside, Montaya and Flass were still shouting at each other. Bruce checked his count down, and it said 8 minutes exactly – it took a little longer than 5 minutes to stop the alarms, thanks to Montaya. At least some police on Gotham were actually doing their job.

"I'm telling you, I heard some steps," Montaya said to Flass. "You didn't hear anything?"

"I was listening to the radio, changing channels," Flass replied. "Now, if you'll excuse me." He closed the window Montaya was talking to him.

Montaya grouched, but looked back to check the building one last time. She went in through the front door. That was when Bruce found the Park Row archive.

He put the phone above the locker, positioning it to lighten just below the locker. He went through few files, and then saw the names _"WAYNE, THOMAS"_ and " _WAYNE, MARTHA_ ", tagged on the edges of each file.

He quickly picked them up, opened them and started taking pictures of each thing inside. He couldn't look over anything at that moment – it was too dangerous to spend any more time here, and he certainly couldn't steal it.

Montaya had reached the second floor and her eyes found a glimpse of light coming from the door on her left. She heard Flass honking the police car. Her ears heard another car passing by, perhaps Flass was dealing with them. She picked her gun again and as she kicked the door to open, she pointed the gun at the silhoutte in front of her.

Bruce didn't panic, somehow, he felt like he was ready for whatever that can happen. "Freeze!" Montaya shouted at him, and he literally froze for a second. Fortunately he had already taken pictures of all the evidences, and didn't need to take any of the files.

He threw the files at her while he jumped behind the locker, running to the window he came from. Montaya shot a few guns around – careful not to meet the target, just warning shots – and Bruce escaped hardly enough. He jumped to the ground, even though his knees hurt so bad, he climbed to the nearest wall.

That's when the other car Montaya heard of appeared in front of him. Bruce thought Alfred was going to be so mad when he found out about this, so he jumped aboard the truck, not even thinking of what's to come.

"Get in!" Clark shouted, and Bruce thought he had never been so happy to see him – ever. He got in to the passenger seat quickly, closed the door with a loud thump and they went on the run. "Don't know what kind of trouble you got yourself in, but you should be thankful I got there in time!"

"This is still not a good time to talk, Clark," Bruce replied, then he checked the mirror on his right, seeing the police car was following their truck. "Tell me you don't have the license plate at the back."

"I still haven't built it in," Clark replied as he took a sharp turn, trying to lose the police car away. "Where are we going?"

"The manor, where else?" Bruce answered, while still trying to ignore the pain on his whole legs. "Besides, the way through there will help us shake the cops."

" _Shake the cops_ – wow, you're beginning to sound like a criminal, Bruce."

"Let's say more like a vigilante," Bruce said, smiling. "I haven't committed any crimes yet."

"First, breaking in," Clark said, then turned the car to the right as Bruce told him. "Second, behaving against what that police told you; third, running away."

Bruce sighed. "I'm basically doing the job they should have done years ago, Clark. I didn't ask you to pick me up."

"Try to be grateful, at least." Clark replied, clearly he was annoyed by Bruce's actions. The space between the police car and their truck began to increase, and when they entered the forest road; it became so hard to see the car.

"We're losing them." Bruce stated. "Thanks, Clark. Sorry about before."

The truck passed through the curvy road, to the top of the hill, reaching the Wayne Manor. Clark stopped the truck and opened the car. "Let's hope Alfred is still sleeping." Bruce said while getting out.

This was the first time Clark saw the Wayne Manor, and he was completely in awe. "This building – the architecture is almost perfect. No wonder it stood for centuries."

"How do you know that?" Bruce asked as he took out the hat he was wearing the whole time.

"I did some research about Gotham. Tried to learn as much as I can, you know?" Clark answered while he tried to open the gate, and failed. "How do we get in, exactly?"

Bruce pointed at the lock system right next to the iron gate. "You know, there are different things than brute force." He pressed his thumb and the machine scanned his fingerprint, then showing a notification saying " _CONFIRMED_ " in green color.

The gate opened slowly, and without much noise to Bruce and Clark's relief. The two sighed, and as soon as they got in, Bruce pressed some buttons behind the locking mechanism, making it close the gates before it even fully opened.

Clark looked at the building once again, but this time to see if Alfred was awake. "He's sleeping, I guess. There are no lights on."

Bruce laughed silently. "You don't know him. He might be waiting at the front hall, waiting to creep the hell out of me for running away."

"Technically, you didn't run away." Clark replied, and the two began to trail the grassy land, walking towards where Bruce jumped at the start. "I take it you threw yourself to the tree?"

"I tried to." Bruce answered, and Clark couldn't hold his smile. "Can you climb up there then give me a hand?"

"Certainly!" Clark replied, and began to climb up the tree quickly. He passed his hand to Bruce, and pulled him up there. Then Clark jumped with all the power he got to hold the edge of the window. Contrary to Bruce, he managed to hold it for a while.

As soon as he got in Bruce's room, he stood there, and started to speak. "You'll tell me what you were doing there and I'll pass my hand."

Bruce cursed under his breath. If he refused it would take a lot of time – perhaps until the dawn, who knows? – for him to reach the window by himself. His knees were working against him at the moment. Clark helped him escape tonight anyway, he kind of had the right to know what was going on. "Okay."

He held Clark's hand, and when he stepped in his own room, he closed the window immediately. "Great." Taking off his coat, he only had his loose t-shirt and black leggings on. "Follow me."

Bruce lead the way to his study room, and silently locked it behind Clark. He showed him the map, and pulled the map up and away. "This is what I've been working on."

Clark examined the whole thing, piece by piece. A few things Bruce cut from papers, a lot of pictures he found who knows where, and some lists showing which mob bosses answered to which of the biggest families out on Gotham. And which people answered to which mob bosses. "Bruce, don't you think this is too much?"

"What do you mean? This is all I could do. And I'm far beyond reaching." Bruce answered while he plugged his phone to the computer.

"I don't know... You're sixteen, and obviously not a detective. You don't have legal rights for what you did tonight."

Bruce looked at Clark from his computer. "Are you going to snitch me?"

Clark crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes, looking right into Bruce's concerned ones. "Of course not, and you know that." Bruce turned his eyes back at the screen. "What I meant was, what if I hadn't show up?"

"I know the risks, Clark, if that's what you're so anxious about," Bruce answered. "But I can't live here doing nothing." He waited the printer to print all the pictures he took today.

Clark pulled a chair next to Bruce. "All that could have been done has already been done, Bruce. The police have helped you as much as they can."

"Do you really believe that? Or did you not see the list of polices that work for Maroni and Falcone?" Bruce said strictly as he pulled out the photos out of the printer.

Clark watched while Bruce pinned all of the pictures to correct places, standing and inspecting them. "It was already known that those two families have bought polices enough to build an army. But you can't do this by yourself. At least not right now."

"You don't understand." Bruce replied as he started to walk towards the door quickly, Clark following him behind. "You never will."

Clark closed the door, and the two walked to Bruce's room quietly. "Then tell me and let me understand."

Bruce sat on his bed, and looked out of the window. His knees were aching so badly. He felt Clark sitting next to him. "I can't forget that night, Clark. It doesn't go away from my eyes. Not even for a second. And the worse thing was, it was just another crime for the police department. I'm not saying my parents were better than anyone else, deserved more recognition, no."

He turned to face Clark. "I want them to have justice. I don't want their lives be forgetten in vain."

Clark put his hand on Bruce's shoulder. "I get that, and that's totally natural. But by doing what, Bruce?" He said angrily. "By playing the detective? You're a high school student!"

"I need to do whatever I can right now, and in the future. Because that's what they would want me to do. I need to find their killer and bring justice to this whole thing."

"And when you find him, what are you going to do exactly? Are you going to kill him?!" Clark replied.

"That's equality. And sometimes, equality and justice are the same. Perhaps this is one of those times, Clark."

Clark looked at Bruce in shock. "Bruce! Do you hear what you're saying?! You're talking about killing someone!"

"I don't have anything to lose. I can take my time in jail."

Clark's breathing from his nose could be heard, he was very furious that he slapped Bruce. And as Bruce held his left cheek, he continued. "You forget about Alfred. You forget about Diana. You forget about _me_."

Bruce bent down his head, and he started to shake. As Clark put his hand on Bruce's back, he held onto it, and started to pour his teardrops on his knees. "I'm... I'm a mess, Clark."

Clark turned his face to look at his eyes, seeing the red circles around them, he hugged him closely. And Bruce didn't get back this time, he let his teardrops fall on Clark's chest. "You don't have to stay anymore," Bruce managed to speak between his tears. "Thanks for everything, Clark."

Clark raised his face once again. "No. In fact, I need to stay here." He said, then smiled. "If that's okay, of course."

Bruce smiled back, thinking of how typical of Clark that was. He was still being kind. "Guest room is next door."

"How about I sleep on the couch?" Clark said while throwing his body on the sofa at Bruce's room. "You have a lot of space here."

"I don't intend to fill anytime soon." Bruce replied while he was getting in his sheets, finally having the chance to lay down his legs.

Clark moved his eyes away as Bruce took off his top, but he was tempted enough already when he began to take off his leggings. Clark's eyes of a scientist couldn't help but stare with admiration to a body like the one Bruce had.

He turned away to face the wall when Bruce finished and could see him peeking. He tried to fall asleep as soon as he could. This was going to be a hard night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IM SO EXCITED FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER ITS GOING TO BE THE BOMB CRYING OMG
> 
> clark getting hard at the end tho lmAO


	8. Jui Jutsu

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The thing you've come to expect is finally here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M TERRIBLY SORRY for how long this took me to update. I wasn't entirely sure if I should go with one way or another and I finally decided to delve into this one.
> 
> Without further ado, here it is.
> 
> [Warning: Sexual graphics described.]

Clark didn't know if he was still sleeping or not, but there was certainly something smelling beautiful, a food of some sort, that reached his nostrils. He turned his body to his left, his weight making him almost fall from the couch. The couch... He remembered he wasn't at his own flat, and at Bruce's manor. Good thing was, this wasn't a school day.

When he opened his eyes, the first thing his eyes stared directly was Bruce sitting on a chair, seemingly waiting for him to wake up, holding a tray between his hands. So that was the source of that beautiful smell.

"Hey," Bruce called to him as soon as he saw Clark trying to open his eyes. "It's alright if you want to sleep more."

He would be more than willing to do so, but his mental clock had already woken him up – as it always did with or with not circles around his eyes. Staying up all night to look after Bruce and being a partner in crime was exhausting. He swore to himself he'd never do such thing again, they were lucky that the police didn't catch them last night.

"I'm okay," Clark replied while he was raising his back to lean on the handle of the couch. "What time is it?"

"Some time over 11, I think," Bruce answered as he put the tray over the bedside table. "We have a lot of time to finish our English project, Clark. Don't worry."

Rubbing his eyes, he replied. "I was just about to ask you that." He stood up from the couch, and started to stretch his joints. "Does Alfred know I'm here?" Bruce didn't answer, instead, he just pointed at the blanket Clark was sleeping inside a minute ago. "Of course he does, who am I kidding?"

"And he waits us at the breakfast table," Bruce said. "Frustrated and pretty angry."

Clark scratched his hair. "Where is the bathroom, if I may ask?" He picked up his glasses from the bedside table.

"Turn right and enter the second door on your left." Bruce explained, and Clark walked to leave the room.

He was feeling nauseous, feeling as if he's about to puke. He needed to get some water soon. As he opened the bathroom door, the first thing he did was to splash water on his face. It felt so much better as soon as he did that.

Clark started to fix his hair, and put on his glasses. There, he was finally presentable. Well, mostly. He realised he went to sleep with his casual clothes, therefore making them look creased.

Since there was nothing to do right then, he left the room and walked back to Bruce's room to ask if he was ready to eat. He was going to open the door immediately, but then, maybe he was changing. So Clark decided to knock first. "Enter," Bruce shouted.

He didn't know if Bruce did that on purpose but the only thing covering Bruce's bottom was a thin towel, looking as if it was about to drop in sudden moves. "Were you going to take a shower?"

"Yeah," Bruce answered. "With all the action we had yesterday I felt like I needed to. You can too if you want, it's fine."

Clark couldn't answer over the view of Bruce's perfect back muscles, his spine, and that— Clark stopped himself from thinking of these things. "Um, that would actually be great. Should I use the guest bathroom again?"

Bruce turned around to face him. "Yeah, you can." He looked at him for a while, and Clark looked at him back aswell. Some would find it was an awkward moment, but they acted like it never happened. Bruce turned to walk to shower cabin, and Clark closed the door.

He leaned on the door, breathing heavily. This was happening all over again. From the first moment he laid eyes on Bruce, something happened to his body. He started sweating, an aching began on his stomach, his feels swung between anxiety and happiness. It kept happening everytime he saw Bruce, and as he was this close to him, his brain held a chance to stop working anytime soon.

Even though he knew Bruce had no intentions whatsoever, what he just did felt like a... a _tease_ to Clark. Just like he did last night, sleeping with only those black leggings. Maybe he always slept shirtless, but to Clark, it was unbearable.

But he knew he shouldn't do this to his best friend. Bruce and Diana were together, Clark was nearly sure of that. According to John, he left them the other day at the cinema, to help them reveal their feelings for each other easier. And it appears they did, as the both were overly cheerful later on.

He was aware that it didn't prove anything, but even if there's a one percent chance of that happening, he couldn't do anything about it but support. Also, he didn't want to make his relationship with his best friend become weird. That was the hard thing about the friend zone.

* * *

 

After the two had taken their showers, they went downstairs, to the kitchen where Alfred had prepared their breakfasts. Bruce tried to slip to one of the chairs without saying anything, but Alfred blocked him immediately. "No," he said strictly. "Sir."

"Alfred?" Bruce asked like nothing had happened.

"I think you have knowledge of the matter, sir. Let's not kid ourselves," Alfred replied, then he turned to Clark. "Right, Mr. Kent?"

Bruce watched as Clark bent down his head and stracthed his hair. "There's nothing to be crossed about, Alfred, believe me. We just went outside for a while then turned back."

"Without telling me, you ran away. Using your room's window. You could have get hurt!"

Bruce crossed his arms. "But I didn't, did I?"

Clark looked at Alfred, the butler, barely holding himself. "This conversation is pointless. You shall not leave the manor for two weeks, is it clear?" Bruce narrowed his eyes. "Just school, then right back to manor. Is it understood, Master Bruce?"

He sighed, and opened his arms. "Yes."

Alfred got out from Bruce's way, stopped blocking his seat. "Right then, have a good breakfast." He walked out from the kitchen.

"I'm sorry about this, Bruce," Clark stated, while he settled his body on the chair across Bruce's. "How do you feel?"

"I know he does this because he cares about me," Bruce replied as he dropped his spoon in his cereal bowl. "And he's the only thing I have."

Clark didn't reply instantly. He realized Bruce was sad about something and it was clearly bugging him. "But still, you're not happy."

"I thought about what you said last night," Bruce answered. "You're right – even though I'll continue my work on finding him, I don't get to decided what to do with him when I get him. _I am not the law_."

He couldn't help but gently smile. Clark knew, deep down, Bruce couldn't be a person to be driven mad easily by such a thing as bloodlust. At least, he wanted to believe that. "I hope you find him."

Bruce sent a smile back at him. "So, how about we skip reading _Alice in Wonderland_ and just write the report?"

"It's not like he could find out." Clark smirked, putting his hands on his own neck in a comforting matter.

* * *

It has been 3 hours since they started writing their detailed report for the assignment Mr. Tetch gave them, and it was boring from the start to the end. Clark raised his left arm to check his wristwatch. The watch showed it was 4pm, and probably because of the long study they've just done, he felt his eyelids closing slowly.

Bruce must have seen him beginning to fall asleep, he shaked him by holding his right shoulder. "Clark," he called to him. "I know where we can keep ourselves awake."

Clark strachted his arm, shook his own head and stood up from his chair. During their walk from the study room, Clark kept examining his surroundings. The Wayne Manor was filled with historical items, ancient pieces. Considering even the building itself held a historic importance, seeing all these here shouldn't have been a problem for Clark. But he was the one to easily fall in awe.

They stopped in front of a big door, and Bruce pushed the doors to reveal a room with high ceilings, tall windows, well-equipped gymnasium. "If you don't want Mrs. Bertinelli on your collar next week, I suggest we _do_ train ourselves."

"Is this really necessary?" Clark sighed while getting inside, as Bruce turned behind and pushed to close the doors. He watched Bruce while he closed the curtains with a remote controller, and picked up two karate clothes. "Wait, what?!"

"Wear those keikogi, we'll do it the right way." Bruce quickly took off his shirt, and replaced it with the robe on his hand. "I'm taking a few classes, Clark. You don't think I would go there, to the police archive without anything I have up on my sleeve?" He replied as he tied the black belt he was holding inside his palm on his waist.

Looking at the clothes he held in the air, Clark realized Bruce was telling the truth: This was the only way to keep himself awake. Besides, when would he ever get the chance to train himself in the martial arts? _I guess never_ , he thought.

He saw Bruce grin when he slipped in the clothes in a sudden. As much as Bruce was comfortable with showing his skin, Clark was that much shy. Soon as he was in the proper clothes, Bruce stepped near where he was standing, opening a locker behind him.

He picked the starry-looking darts that were called — "Shurikens." Bruce explained, and Clark watched him throw it to the opposite wall. "It's sharp, it's quick. Not really causes fatal wounds if you place your aim at the right direction."

Clark touched at the ninjaken – _yes, he knew what that one was called_ – and was immediately thrown into his own mind pit of questions. "How did you get all these this? Are you even allowed to?"

"I don't intend to use them on people outside," Bruce answered. "I just use them to improve my accuracy."

He thought of the showdown happened at the first PE class, between Bruce and Oliver. "I guess it worked, then," he stated, looking at Bruce. "So, what else you took classes of?"

His finger pointing at the lower case of the locker, the billionaire replied: "Muay Thai." Clark bent down to see three pairs of boxing gloves. He hummed in admiration, and Bruce smiled in exchange. "And jui jutsu. Want me to show it to you?"

He knew he was going to reply in a way he'll regret later. "Sure."

"Imitate my actions." Bruce told him as he took his fighting stance. His arms on the air, holding his fists as he started moving in a circle. He turned his right fist into a long arm move swiftly, and Clark did the same.

"It looks easy." Just as soon as Clark replied him, Bruce took his hand by the wrist, turned it around and locked it on his back.

Bruce threw Clark's body on the floor, however, he felt the agonizing ache on his knees, and the air becoming hard to exhale since he was laying on his lungs; his heart started beating rapidly.

Right next to his ear, Clark could feel Bruce's breath. He was leaning more on his back, making it harder to breath for Clark. "Want me to show it more?"

He didn't know what to do. If Bruce was with Diana like Clark thought he was, would he still offer this? He wasn't like that kind of guy who would cheat someone. Why was he feeling guilty anyway? Lois and him were not in a relationship either. Clark was too breathless – _and too out of his senses_ – to answer, so he just gave Bruce a nod as a reply. Bruce quickly raised himself up from his back, rolled Clark's body over as he began to release Clark's belt that was holding the robe barely together.

Clark quickly got rid of his glasses by putting it somewhere higher above the floor; he was trying with all he got not to give into his inner feelings with the touch of Bruce's fingers tracing his chest, Bruce's breath echoing on his chin, his lips kissing his neck... This felt like a wet dream he would witness in his sleep, perhaps on the 5th grade or something. Difference was... _well,_ everything including Bruce.

"Clark," Bruce mumbled among his kisses he left on his neck, and he continued putting up words between them. "I... love... you..." He stopped dropping them and finished his sentence. "Always wanted to tell you. Since the first day of the school."

This was pretty heavy news for Clark. He never thought their feelings would turn out to be mutual. He stared at Bruce's face until Bruce looked at him with curious, frightened eyes. "If you don't want me to—"

The billionaire's sentence was interrupted by Clark's sudden kiss, his hands holding his neck. He made sure he tasted every inch of his lips as he was kissing him, made sure he owned all of them.

After he broke up, his hands didn't stop working, instead they went to loose Bruce's belt that was still holding his robe somehow. Bruce's legs were holding Clark's legs in between, his left hand caressing his hair while his right one searching for sensitive spots.

As soon as Bruce's hand touched and circled around Clark's nipple, he couldn't help but slip a little moan. He hoped Bruce didn't hear it. _Of course Bruce heard it_ , Clark thought. Bruce, meanwhile, kept circling his index finger, while asking a question in the process. "Were you and Lois—?"

Clark, wishing he stopped doing what he was doing, but on the other hand wanted him to keep doing this for the rest of his life; managed to answer Bruce. "We – we weren't."

While Bruce was slowly taking his right hand lower, and lower; he continued his interrogation. "Did you have sex with Lois the other day?"

"What?!" Clark asked, surprised by the directness of the question, but he met with a pinch on his waist by Bruce. "She was going to, but I stopped her from doi– Ah!" He was again interrupted by Bruce, but this time, he slipped his hand inside Clark's pants, and squeezed his member.

"That's good," Bruce replied, but Clark wasn't sure if he answered to his respond or to his groan. Either way, he was glad that Bruce was satisfied. "I want you to be mine, mine and mine only."

It was more than hard for Clark to answer him now, as the billionaire was giving him the pleasure of his life. He tried to nod his head, but he was barely holding himself in one piece. " _Mhhm_."

"Tell me you'll only be with me." Bruce demanded.

While sweat was dripping on his face, he managed to speak a few words between his slow sobbing. "I'll... be with... you. Only you."

Bruce started to take off the white trousers he had on all this time. As Clark laid eyes on the black boxers once again, he knew he was getting hard again. Bruce smirked at the view, but stopped his hands at Clark's waist. "Do you really want to do this?"

Clark put his hands on his and embraced them. "I do."

The boy started stripping him out of his white trousers, feeling every bit of his legs as he was pulling it out. Clark's legs were burning, and even the cold floor of the gymnasium couldn't help him stop the fire.

Bruce continued to push his body on him again, closing his lips on his own, compassionately kissing him. While their tongues battled inside, one trying to take the control of the other; their hands danced on each other's body.

Clark's left hand on Bruce's neck, making it certain that he doesn't try to go away; his right hand, on his waist, pulling him closer. Because it still felt like this couldn't be real to him.

Or to Bruce. He thought since he was Lois they've been together, and hearing those words from Clark's mouth made him relief like nothing else before. He had been holding himself away since then, but now, he needn't to. His pants were rubbing on Clark's, making them get harder and harder each second.

Bruce took his lips away from Clark's mouth, and began to wander below, giving breaks on his journey for a few stops only. As his lips reached Clark's waist, he looked up to him, seeing him giving approval. He quickly took off his boxers but stared at his member for a while.

"You ever think of starting?" Clark said while laughing, while circling few strings of Bruce's hair with his finger.

Bruce sighed. "Patience, farmboy." He carefully placed his hands on the end of his member. Clark was not completely unresponsive to the touch, as his spine started to fight against his will, taking a form that made his stomach hurt.

"Why are you taking so lo—" Clark was interrupted by Bruce once again. He started licking the tip of his penis slowly, making sure Clark gets all the pleasure he said he wanted. "Go on."

As Bruce got his approval, he started to take the whole thing into his mouth inch by inch. He never thought of that this will ever happen. Bruce Wayne, the millionaire, sitting between a boy's legs, giving a blowjob.

No matter what he was thinking about this action, he didn't have any intentions of stopping mid-act. Bruce moved his mouth up and down while still holding it inside. Clark was groaning and crying, he was also pushing his fingers on Bruce's shoulders, holding onto him for the pleasure he was getting.

Bruce could feel Clark's cooling sweats dripping on his legs, touching his own arms for he was holding them to open space for his own work at the moment. He was cold as ice at that moment, meanwhile Clark was almost going to melt by the fire inside his skin.

While Clark's tears were dropping on the floor, Bruce continued until the boy couldn't hold back anymore, and his lips tasted the cum. He made sure he got all he can, and then he took it out of his mouth.

Clark slowly opened his eyes, taking his claws out of Bruce's shoulders, rubbing those areas – as he was clearly worried about the pain he might have caused on him. But Bruce just locked his lips on Clark's, making him shudder under the weight.

He didn't know what to feel when he tasted his own semen with the tip of his tongue. This day was surely inordinary, perhaps it would be the most inordinary day of his life. Clark tried not to think of anything else but Bruce, however, his mind fought against him, as it always did.

Bruce licked his own lips, then started licking his neck. Clark could feel his cold skin touching his own burning one. Was something wrong with him? "Bruce?" He called to him.

It seemed like he was too busy to answer. "Hmm?" He mumbled while still continuing his work on Clark's neck.

"You're freezing." Clark stated while embracing Bruce with his arms. "You sure you're fine?"

Bruce laid next to Clark, being held by his left arm as his own left arm stayed on his jawline. "I've always been like this, it's alright." Bruce smirked. "We'll see after you've done your part, Smallville."

Clark smiled back as he embraced him closer. "Count on it, dark prince."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS WAS LONG AF AND I CANT WRITE SMUT FR. IT WAS NEEDED BUT I HATE WRITING IT BC I SUCK.
> 
> IM SRRY I KEPT ALL OF YOU WAITING FOR THIS GAHH.


	9. News

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Different kinds of reactions towards THE news.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for making you wait all this time. It's 2am while I was editing this, I hope nothing goes wrong.
> 
> Thanks for bearing up with me and this story, by commenting and dropping kudos ❤ Love you guys!

Bruce realized he was sleeping for a while now, his chest raising and going down in a loop. As he opened his eyes, he found himself in Clark's embrace, his face resting above Clark's bare chest. Then he remembered everything that happened this afternoon. How they told each other about how they feel, then how they showed each other their affection.

As he watched Clark breathing while still holding Bruce, he felt comfortable and relieved like he'd never felt. Raising his head, he kissed Clark's forehead, then got out from the bed – and the warming embrace. After he put on his casual clothes, he heard Clark waking up with a loud yawn.

"It's still not night, is it?"

"No, but it's near. We missed the dinner." Bruce stated, the turned his body to face Clark. "You look cute when you wake up."

Clark smiled. It really was amazing to hear those words coming between Bruce's lips, he loved how easy it was to say anything like that now. "Thanks?"

Bruce picked up Clark's clothes from the floor and dropped them in front of him. "You're welcome." He sat on the couch that stood opposite the bed, the couch that Clark slept in yesterday. Clark picked up the clothes, but he hesitated to stand up. "Aren't you going to wear clothes? Not that I complain but... Alfred is still home, you know."

He silently rolled the sheets around his waist. "I know but..."  
Bruce narrowed his eyes. "There's nothing there that I haven't seen already." He winked at Clark, but then stood up. "If you're uncomfortable, then I won't peek."

Clark stopped him midway by holding him by the shoulder. "No, it's okay." He dropped the sheets as Bruce bent his head down and smirked, making Clark groan in unbelief. "At least don't stare at it directly."

* * *

They went to the great garden later on, sitting under the big tree, watching the stars above. Bruce was laying on the grass, Clark on his right. It was the boy next to him who also started the conversation.

"Back at home, I used to watch the stars everyday before bed. I dreamt about flying out there. What it would feel like. I would find my father up in the skies, 'cause ma always told me _he was watching me_ from the skies." He sighed. "Just a childish dream of a boy from Kansas."

Bruce turned to see Clark's blue eyes nearly getting all soaky, as he saw tears gather at the corner of his eyes. "It doesn't have to stop at being a dream, Clark. You can do great things, I know that." He looked at the stars. "Your father would be proud of you."

"I've done nothing. I couldn't even save him from that car crash."

"Remember what you told me the other day? About how there was nothing I could've done to save my parents?" Bruce asked. "You were a child too. The only one responsible is that driver."

Clark sniffed. "Perhaps you're right." He wiped out his gathering tears away from his eyes. "What about you? What do you see when you look at the stars?"

Bruce looked away. "It never have slipped away from my mind to let me see it again. I can't forget that night..."

Clark turned to Bruce. "I'm sorry, maybe we shouldn't—"

"You and I need to know more about each other if we're going to be together." Bruce replied. "We are together now, aren't we?"

Clark half-smiled. "Always meant to be."

Bruce looked above again. "We had just left the theater, after seeing _The Mark of Zorro_ all together. My father was joking about how I was pretending to be that masked hero. I can still hear my mother's chuckles echoing on my ears." He closed his eyes. "And then... that man appeared in front of us. If only I could see his face clearly... The fate was on his side, and not even a single touch of light showed us his face."

He remembered the horror on his mother's eyes, the bravery of his father, about how he walked in front of all of them. How he tried to protect them. "Isn't it weird that heroes are supposed to win in fiction but they always lose in real life?" Bruce sobbed. "My father – he was the real hero. He was my hero. And he died trying to protect us." He closed his eyes slowly. "That, Clark, is what I see everytime I look up the sky. I see myself kneeling behind their bodies laying on the ground, because the stars were the last thing I saw that night as I screamed."

Clark took a breath. "Thanks..." He began to speak. "For telling me all this. Thanks for trusting me."

"It's alright. I just..." Bruce faced him. "I don't know if I can get through this. Like, ever..."

He felt his face being embraced by Clark's hands. "You and I. We're going to find this man together." And he let go. He let his worries slip away.

* * *

The next day at school was going to be a disaster for what Bruce thought so far. While Diana and him never really had anything to count as a romantic relationship except a kiss, Clark and Lois were closer. He might had asked him a couple of times if he really wanted to become a... _well_ , become together with him. And everytime Clark explained him and Lois had never been a thing, making Bruce sigh in relief.

"We don't have to declare it to everyone," Bruce explained, standing by the door on the manor. "We'll just be two guys being in a relationship. We can be normal."

Clark couldn't help but smile at how nervous he was. As he was hugging Bruce, he responded. "Relax, Bruce. Everything's alright." He handed Bruce his jacket that was hanging by the coatrack and wore his own red one.

Alfred opened the door that let to their seats, showing them the way inside the car. "I've never realized how good you look in red until now."

Clark looked at his jacket while getting inside. "Thanks," he said as he turned his face to see Bruce. He was in black again – just like all the other days. "You would look good in red too."

 

  
Stepping inside the classroom, excited to tell their squad about this new thing going on between them; the two were glad to have all of them circling around one desk.

"Hey guys," Bruce said, quickly approaching the desk. But as soon as he saw Barry's frowning, sad face; he asked: "What happened?"

Vicki touched his shoulder, and took her usual pose – _chest up, hip right, hands on the waist_ – when he turned to see her.

"Didn't you hear? Iris dumped him."

"Go to hell, Vale," Dinah snapped, her brows crossing. "Leave the poor boy alone."

Bruce looked at Barry's eyes, and saw his disappointment and more present, the desperation. He passed his hand to put on his shoulder. "Are you feeling okay, Barry?"

The boy took the hand he was offered, benting down his face, he answered. "I will be, I hope."

Hal, who have been sitting next to him for a while, replied Bruce aswell. "Don't believe what Vicki just said to you. Barry and Iris agreed on ending this."

The blue eyes of Barry met with the blue ones Bruce owned. "You once said to me that long distance relationships doesn't work," he said while still sobbing quietly. "Why do you always have to be right, Bruce? Why wouldn't you be mistaken for just... _Once_?!"

Hal and John kept patting his back as Barry broke down in tears, putting his head on his arms.

Clark looked at Bruce, and they both nodded. They didn't need words to reach a point at that moment. They both knew they couldn't tell about their newly-found relationship today. Not when Barry's just ended. 

* * *

" _What_?!" Diana shouted at his face, directly facing him. She stood really close to him that he could see her eyes, her iris and everything; clear with high definition. "You and Clark, _together_?"

Bruce held his hands up in the air, pushing Diana away a few steps. "Yeah, pretty much." He watched as Diana kept checking him meanwhile she was picking her English book – next class, but she liked to be ready – out of her locker, then closing it with a loud bump. "Look, I'm sorry I didn't tell you in the class, but I couldn't do it in front of Barry. Not today."

Diana held Bruce by his hand, pushing him through the corridor, to a corner where they will be away from most eyes. "We gotta talk." As she watched the gossiping girls walk away from their direction, she continued. "Is it okay if I ask a few questions?"

"As long as you promise not to tell anyone."

"I never lie," she replied confidently, with a half smile on her lips. "Who was toppi—"

Bruce closed her mouth with his hand quickly. "What the hell, Diana?!"

"Okay, okay! _Geez_ ," Diana mumbled, seemingly annoyed. Her eyes saw several students pass through the corridor, and she waited for them to walk away. "I was joking. The real question was, did he inform Lois about this?"

"That's his thing to worry about, I have no right to deal with that."

Diana crossed her brows. "That sounds incredibly arrogant, but okay." She smiled again, putting her hand over his shoulder. "For how long?"

Bruce smiled back. "Since the day we first met."

Her smile faded a little, but she made sure that the boy standing in front of him didn't notice the change. "That's great, Bruce." She started to play with a small amount of strings of her hair. "I mean, you two finally getting together."

Diana gasped inside when Bruce held her by her hand, looking directly at her. "You know I didn't want you to get any kind of feelings towards me, Diana. I'm not blaming you either." He let go of his hold, sighing and bending his head down. "I'm sorry, Diana. I didn't mean to do anything that would hurt you – your feelings. Things are just happening too fast and... I don't know if I am able to catch up with everything."

Her hands traced his cheek, but in a friendly matter, showing him that she really cares. "You're doing fine so far," she replied while taking her hand down. " _Except_ , I don't think you know about Dinah and Ollie."

"I should've guessed," smirking, Bruce answered. "I hope they'd turn out to be fine. Don't have any worries, though."

Diana slipped her arm through his left, tagging him along with her. "C'mon, it's biology. You've done the right thing taking me out of the class and telling me about this privately," she said, dragging him along the way. "But I have no intention of missing any classes anytime soon, Bruce."

 

  
After a couple of minutes Diana and Bruce seated, Dr. Dullmacher walked into the classroom. First thing, he told everyone " _good morning_ ", then he took the result papers out of his brown case. "These were not shocking," he started. "They were not good."

"If you want to be good..." He began to walk towards Oliver, making him quiver and sad as soon as Oliver laid hands on his result paper. _A big D_ was at the top of the paper. "...I suggest you try to become one soon."

He slipped the papers one by one as he passed through each space between the desks. Bruce looked at his result report, but mostly, staring at the big A- on the cover. He turned to show him their mark, and recieved a happy thumbs-up from Clark. _I know he's still sad about this whole project incident_ , Bruce thought. _We have to fix this between us soon_.

As the bell announced the break after an hour full of complete sufferation of the students, and every single one of them rushed to their next class – or to the restrooms – it didn't pass by Bruce's eyes that Lois pushed Clark outside gently and then near the door. Bruce needed to act quick if he needed to hear what they were taking about.

So he hurried over the door to leave the room, seemingly dealing with his locker, and then he just left the corridor, sprinting to the stairs. But as he was at the lower level, he stepped upstairs and ran near the two, but not so much that would take their attention.

"Is there anything you want to tell me, Clark?" Lois demanded, acting like the girl she was; very observant, stiff and controlling. "Like what the fuck is going on between you and Bruce Wayne?"

He saw Clark being nervous, his hands shaking without notice. "Nothing? We're just friends." He felt like he needed to add more stuff in his speech more than just 4 words to make it more believable. "And he was my biology assignment partner."

Lois narrowed her eyes, and came so near that their nose tips almost touched. "Don't try to fool me up, Smallville. I've known you long enough to understand when you're lying, and this is one of those moments, Clark." She sighed, and the air coming out from her nostrils touched his cheeks. "What kind of friend stays at their friend for two days and don't look at their phone for a second, because they were too busy who knows why?"

Clark bent his head down, a pinch of his black hair falling in front of his forehead. "Actually, it was one night and a day."

"So you _agree_ , huh?" Lois said while tears were streaming down her face. "I can't believe you would literally... You literally used me like a _lab rat_! Finding out if you were straight or not, and I was your test subject? Was that all that was about?"

"What?!" Clark was shocked, and he felt frustrated that Lois would actually think he would do something this sick. "No, of course not, Lois! I — That was all of a sudden and I didn't mean t—"

Lois wept away the tears, but still sobbing as she spoke. "I understand why you left immediately, and stopped at my bra. Because you were disgusted by them, weren't you?"

Bruce could hear her high pitched scream from Greenland. Clark shook him nervously, fearing that people might find out about this. "What're you trying to do, Lo'? You're trying to let everyone know about this news?"

She put her hands on her waist, looking at him. "Perhaps I should," she replied fiercely, turning around and then continuing. "You will regret this, Clark Kent. You'll wish you never left Kansas."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) I'm sorry for making Lois such a bitch. I'm sorry if you're a hardcore Lois fan. Please don't sue me.
> 
> 2) Diana used the "That sounds fake but ok" meme I'm done.
> 
> 3) Nvm how I created Clark's backstory. I couldn't put a fucking big tornado that killed Pa Kent inside this story, forgive me.
> 
> 4) Oliver recieved a "big D" for his Biology assignment.


	10. Courses: Round Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Students of Class E '06 face a new threat: Swimming.
> 
> And Barry's dealing with other problems.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took me so long to finish this chapter. I was helping put my brother with his job and I finally had an opportunity to write this!

Clark was at his own apartment he had been renting since he first arrived on Gotham, and he had been watching the stars all night. Nothing out of ordinary happened after Lois openly threatened him, but he knew she was just starting to get her revenge.

He knew how determined Lois was. And he knew he shouldn't have done that, but that wasn't his original plan. He meant to tell Lois that they can't be anything – and then maybe... Maybe then he could've told about him and Bruce. But everything was happening too fast.

_Too fast_ , Bruce thought. I shouldn't have took it too far this fast. He ruined everything. Maybe not yet – since only two people from the class knew about it, but Lois seemed really angry and... He felt danger incoming.

* * *

 

Successive to an hour full of biology nonsense, PE really helped the students of Class E relax. Mrs. Bertinelli didn't explain what they were going to be working on, so everyone was pretty excited to test themselves that day.

Except Barry, and Clark seemed very tense aswell. Bruce could hear Hal comforting Barry by talking to him, trying to make him feel better; as he was also walking near Clark sitting by the bench, waiting for the teacher.

"Hey," Bruce called while settling next to him. "Are you okay?"

Clark raised his head, then collapsed his head back between his crossed arms, as if he was able to hide himself from the world like that. "I am. But I feel like I am _not_ going to be later today."

"You can't get nervous about something that didn't even happen yet, Clark." He caressed his back slowly. "I don't know what Lois is capable of, but I know that we, together are capable of more."

As Mrs. Bertinelli blew her whistle, the two raised from the bench and walked in to the circle forming around the teacher. She was stiff and her brows were crossed – just like any other day. "We're going to try swimming today," she started explaining, while walking around the circle. "Tomorrow, you will find a list that consists clubs and their members on the board at the first floor. Be sure to check it out."

This time, with the experience of last week, the students rushed to the swimming pool downstairs instead of waiting for approval by the teacher. Bruce saw Mrs. Bertinelli walking near Barry and Hal; however, he turned to Clark who had been calling him to go downstairs for a few minutes.

"I'm going to be there, Clark, but I have to listen to this." Bruce stated and started pushing him away. Fortunately, Clark listened, even though he didn't approve it, as he showed it by shaking his head.

Mrs. Bertinelli had dark curls, dark skin, and dark eyes. Even though she had a hot-headed soul, Bruce always heard that she was the best teacher in the whole school with the kids. Perhaps it was her way to cover her insecurities.

Bruce gave all of his attention to listening to their conversation. He heard Mrs. Bertinelli asking what's wrong, then Barry answering her: "I... It's..." He sighed. "Me and my girlfriend broke up."

"That's... _heartbreaking_ ," he heard Mrs. Bertinelli replying him. "But you should find a way to overcome your heartbreaks, my boy."

"But how, Mrs?" Barry asked, and Bruce could hear his sobbings underneath. "It was Iris who asked me this. She wanted to end this for a while."

She looked right into Barry's blue eyes. "Means her mind was settled on this for some time, right? Look, I know that if you liked her, she must be a very good person. But don't tell me you didn't have any doubts—"

Barry straightened up quickly. "I didn't! I loved Iris!" Mrs. Bertinelli kept staring at him, not speaking a word. "Although... She had been avoiding my calls lately."

"At least she felt guilty about seeing someone else, and didn't want to talk with you then." She bent her head down in a satisfied manner. "She is a good person to ask for break up. I'm sorry Barry, but you need to get over her. She's probably out with someone else right now – as you should be doing aswell."

"I'm sorry Mrs! It was educational and emotionally helping, but I can't just erase Iris off my life like that." Barry raised his body up from the bench, and as he was running towards the stairs – and as Bruce hid behind the bushes – he answered Mrs. Bertinelli. "I better run if I want to be at the pool in time."

When he reached the pool, with a red swimsuit on; he saw a man standing over the edge, probably looking after the students while Mrs. Bertinelli was away. Barry walked to where Bruce and John were swimming, and leaned over the edge to speak with them. "Where are the others?"

"Hal is swimming with Carol down there," Bruce replied, while pointing everyone with his finger subtly. "Diana's at that table, sitting with Dinah. Oliver is trying to impress her with his butterfly stroke."

John coughed. "I have no idea where Clark is." Barry looked at Bruce, and noticed his nervous face.

"Is everything okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, sure. Why not?" He was going to continue, but he was saved by the boy stepping through the door. "Oh there he is!"

Barry sighed, but he didn't want to push this subject further. He had enough stress for a day. All their faces turned at Mrs. Bertinelli as she suddenly shouted through the pool area.

"Alright, listen up!" She clapped her hands and raised everyone's attention. "You probably saw the man over there," she said, pointing her index finger towards the man with blond hair, and blue eyes. It reminded Bruce of boy dolls. Barry had the same combination, but this man looked like he got out of the toy store recently. "He'll be your swimming teacher. He'll pick up the swimming team aswell. Make yourself comfortable." And she left like that.

The only presence that was available to feel was the silence. It disappeared as the man opened his lips. "Hello everyone! Call me Arthur Curry. As you all can see, I'm not much older than you – but old enough to teach you about swimming it appears!" He laughed at himself, a couple of students laughed at the back with him. Mostly girls, Bruce noticed.

 

 

Teaching Hal anything was too hard for any teacher. Not that he had a thick brain, or a body that was unavailable for physical activities. It was just almost impossible to teach him anything if he didn't want to participate. Right now, Arthur was getting furious that he kept swimming like a 5 year old.

"You need to throw an arm each time," He explained, and then showed him the way. However, Hal just kept doing it the way he knew. "Why do I even bother?"

Oliver was getting ready to show off his skills, but Dinah stopped him for a second. "Just being sure that you wore your swimsuit the right way." Then she and Diana both laughed in unison.

Barry was still staring at the icy blue coloured water. Bruce realised his feeling were hurt, and he was a very fragile human being. Even Hal's stupid attempts at getting real good at swimming real fast didn't work at making him smile.

* * *

 

When Bruce arrived at the Wayne Manor, Alfred welcomed him with an unusual smile, offering to take his coat and his backpack.

"What's going on?" Bruce asked impatiently, even though he was kind of satisfied to see Alfred happy and joyful.

"Mr. Fox just called," Alfred informed, putting his coat at the wardrobe, then showing him inside. As the two sat down on the big sofa at the center of the living room, he continued. "He said they're planning on advertasing a new product the Wayne Enterprises came up with – said that they'll do it the traditional way."

Bruce sighed in desperation. "You mean there's going to be a party." He got up immediately, taking his backpack out of Alfred's hand. "You know I hate those."

"I also know you have to show up, sir. It's going to be hard when it will be organised in this place." Alfred smirked.

The boy crossed his brows, knowing that there was no choice given to him, he asked a related question about the matter. "Who's coming?"

Alfred stood up, walking towards the door. "Oh, you know, just the usual guests from the company and the society." He stopped at the doorslip, looking at the boy. "Plus, the ones you'll be inviting. I suggest trying your schoolmates."

Bruce answered his butler while walking upstairs. "Alfred, no one says schoolmates anymore." He continued talking, but to himself. "Besides, who am I even going to invite?"

He threw his backpack to the corner of his room, jumping to his bed and picking up his laptop from his desk. As he started up his computer, he immediately opened his mailbox to find the information Mr. Fox must have sent – as he always did, even though most of the time Bruce ignored them – and read it.

The event was to celebrate the invention of the " _First WayneTech Mobile Phone_ " – Bruce thought they should work on the name – and also the anniversary of... " _Your birthday_ "?! He checked the calendar, and it seemed right. His birthday was just this weekend, and he absolutely had no idea about that a few minutes ago. Because of all that's been going on the last week, he totally forgot about it.

Opening his notepad, he started thinking about the people he could invite. First of all, Diana and John were absolutely coming. _Well, that is if they are free of course._ Would Barry be free? Or to say it more correctly, would he be emotionally available? Since it was this saturday, there were only 3 days in between. Even though, he added him to the list.

He was sure Oliver was already on the guest list, and Clark wouldn't be willing to come. He would need to convince him to coming. Carter and Sheira told them this morning that they won't be here for the weekend, apparently, they had special plans for that specific time. After he added Hal and Dinah, he thought the list was final.

Just as he was about to send the list to Mr. Fox, his phone vibrated above the desk. He looked at the screen, seeing the name "Clark". He opened it in a few seconds.

"Hey," Clark said. "I presume this is a good time to call?"

Bruce caught the reference. "Yes, it is. Although, I'm not sure why you're called? Not that I'm complaining, mind you."

He heard Clark laugh at the end of the line, however, his tone became serious as he started answering. "I wanted to ask about what you learned about Barry when you were eavesdropping today."

"I wasn't!" Bruce protested, but almost immediately, accepting his fault. "Okay, okay. Maybe I was. But that was for Barry." He shook his head in disbelief. "You know how concerned and protective he is about his love life, he would never tell us about it."

"But you believed he'd tell the teacher?"

"Don't worry, he didn't." Bruce narrowed his eyes. "And besides, if you love lecturing me about not to invade privacy, why are you calling at this hour for hot gossip?"

This time, Clark laughed harder than before. "Fine! You got me. I was worried about Barry too. I feel like he had taken this more serious than he should have. I'm afraid he will start to blame himself for this soon."

Bruce put the laptop away, and laid on his bed. "We have to do something about that." His phone gave him a notification sound, informing him that he had a missed call. "Hold on, let me check." He looked at the notification, and saw Diana was trying to reach her. "Is it fine if I turn this into a group chat? With Diana?"

"Sure, but tell her at the start, please."

Bruce pressed on Diana's name, adding her to the call. He spoke up as soon as she accepted the call. "Hey, Diana. Clark's on the line aswell."

Diana answered with a sad tone. "That's better." She sighed. "I was thinking that we should do something about Barry."

Clark replied her. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know, maybe we should try to make him meet with someone else."

"Perhaps we should give him some time, Diana." Bruce answered with concern.

"I know, I know. But I'm getting sadder and sadder each moment as I witness him fading out slowly. It kills Hal too, he tries to help but Barry just... _Ugh_."

Bruce thought for a few seconds. "You know, there is something I should tell you about."

Diana and Clark replied at the same time. "What?"

"Wayne Enterprises will be hosting an event at Wayne Manor this Saturday, and I was thinking of inviting all you guys," Bruce exclaimed. "What do you think of the chance that we'll find someone for Barry that day?"

"It will be hard to take him out from his bed," Diana replied. "Hal told me he keeps watching Doctor Who and playing video games."

"Maybe we should use Hal to take him out of his house." Bruce offered. "As soon as he'll be here, he will have no choice but interact with people. This place is going to boil with them. Hal would just have to get him here."

Clark approved. "That's settled then."

"No, it isn't," Bruce interrupted. "You didn't tell if you are coming or not."

Diana replied, excited. "I'll be happy to. Just wait until I choose the right thing to wear."

Bruce waited for a while to let Clark answer, but it seemed like he wasn't going to answer soon. "Clark? You're silent."

"It isn't very out of character." Diana laughed.

"It may be best if I stay at home." Clark replied. "I'll do some homework."

Bruce slapped his forehead. "What are you talking about, Clark? What homework exactly?"

"The kind of homework that we will – with 90% chance – have between those three days."

Diana suddenly jumped in. "Perhaps I should end this call."

"I'll send you both the adress and the time," Bruce replied. "Just be sure to be there." He sighed. "Look. I'm not very comfortable with these parties and stuff... unlike Ollie. I'll be needing your support."

"You got it, Bruce," Diana smiled. "See you soon." Then she hung up.

Clark was still on the line. He put together all of his confidence and gave his inner thoughts voice. "Clark. I need to tell you something."

"I'm listening."

"I think... I think I took this thing between us real fast. And because of that, now we're facing a real deal. I made you look like a two-timer. I made Lois feel like a piece of trash – not that you were the reason for this, but still she feels like that right now." Bruce explained. "I wanted to apologize. And I want you to tell me if you don't want to put up through this, with me, with this relationship."

Clark took a long breath, then chuckled. "You know, Bruce, you try to look tough as hell. And you got that attitude that you show people that you don't care what they think about you, but deep down, it's the exact opposite." He continued not long later. "It was my fault to do that to Lois, and no one elses. I accept my mistake and I will do anything to make it up. For now, Lois is not looking to cooperate, but I know we will find a way to do that. _Because even in the darkest hour, there is light for everyone out there, in the stars._ "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bruce is a tsundere :))))) y'all know it :))) And I want to congratulate myself for writing that final sentence, it sounded too deep for a fic about gay superheroes high school AU,,
> 
> Also, I think I love the next chapter already, I have it all planned out. If it goes to the plan, I think you'll love it too.


	11. Anyways, the Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The party doesn't go as planned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this took longer than it usually did, but it was because it was longer (+5600 words) than usual. Hope you like it guys!
> 
> \+ If you like my writing and you are interested in more M/M fanfiction, you can check out my M/M collection of one-shots by clicking [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8066251/chapters/18481540)! It would mean a lot ! :)
> 
> [Also, excuse me if I converted the feet measures wrong. In Europe we use the metric system and I used calculators to convert the meters to feet.]

The morning after a day with tiring exercises, Gotham Academy's first floor was crowded more than it had ever witnessed, swarming with students pushing each other to catch a look at the board. Everyone was very eager to find out which club they were selected in; and for the sport clubs, who their captains were.

Bruce took a quick look to the football club, and saw that the team captain seemed to be Victor. He mentally noted that he would congratulate him right after finding out which club himself was in. He also noticed that Clark was chosen for the football team as well. It was very weird to see his name on a club he had no intention to go, but Bruce knew he had to try very hard to make him go to those football trainings. Bruce thought Clark might think twice once he learned that Barry was also chosen for the team. Their coach was Jay Garrick – the whole school talked about how good he was in his youth and how he raised Gotham Academy's sports team to higher levels years ago.

Next to the list of the football club, there was swimming club. The only student he knew in that list was Oliver. _Well, good thing he knows how to wear his swimsuit from now on_ , Bruce thought. He could hear Oliver already shouting in his mind from the background to just let it slide.

The basketball team consisted most of his classmates: Hal, Carter, John, the other John, Ted and Kyle. Also, he was in. He actually didn't think the team would turn out like this, so he was grateful and he started thinking to actually showing up in club meetings. The team captain was soon to be chosen, probably by their coach – Bruce leaned over a bit to read his name – _Kent Nelson_.

After the sports club, there were also lists of ordinary school-related clubs, and Bruce passed reading the rest. He walked over to the closest bench and started waiting for Alfred to pick him up. Soon enough, Diana – with a very excited Dinah along with her – rushed near his spot.

"I'm the cheerleader captain!" Dinah said enthusiastically. "I've been waiting so long for this!"

"Congratulations!" Bruce said, meaning it. "What about you Diana?"

Diana pushed her black hair aside. "I'm in the girls' volleyball team. Captain TBD."

"You seem to be kinda off about it, you know you don't have to go if you don't want to." Bruce said, while Dinah nodded.

"I know!" Diana replied as she joined next to Bruce sitting on the bench. "I actually applied for the basketball team but they said because of the schools funds they only can afford one basketball team, and it's the boys’ team. So they posted me to the girls’ volleyball, and guess what?"

"There isn't a boys' volleyball club either." Dinah answered.

"Exactly!" Diana huffed. "Whatever. I'm going to show them that if they don't think us, as the girls' volleyball team are not good enough, they are wrong."

Dinah clapped. "You go girl." Suddenly, they all turned their heads to watch Hal and Barry banter about something on the next bench, so it didn't take long until they rose from their spot and walked near the two.

"I know you've wanted this for a while, Barry," Hal said to the boy sitting on the bench, his head looking down, feeling depressed. "Don't throw this advantage away."

Bruce put his hand on Barry's shoulder, supporting him in an emotional manner. "What are you afraid of?"

Diana continued. "Whatever it is, we all know you can make it through, Barry."

"I'm..." The boy shrugged, and slowly raised his head, eyeing his friends one by one. "I'm afraid of being incapable... Of not being able to help my teammates when it's needed to, not being there by them." After saying this, all of them understood this was still about Iris. Bruce realised he never noticed how much Iris meant for Barry.

"Oh, dear," Dinah stated, bending over Barry and hugging him. "Barry, you need to know this. We all love you and we want you to feel happy again."

Bruce took the word. "You're not the one to blame, neither of you are."

"You are great the way you are, Barry." Hal finished their sentence.

There was a moment of silence, when all of his friends looked up into his blue eyes. His blue, desperate eyes. They didn't have to listen to his problems. Perhaps they were happy about their clubs before but they felt the need to support him and give up their cheerful thoughts? _Oh God... What was I doing?_ Barry stood up, and then embraced all of them together. He let his tears fall, and wet all of their shoulders.

"Thank you for being here, guys," Barry managed to let out a few words out of his mouth while sobbing. "Couldn't have done it without you."

"We're here for you buddy," Bruce replied as he let go. "In fact, I've been meaning to tell you something." He looked at Diana, giving her the signal. She took Barry by his arm, making him sit with him on the bench again. "There's this party for the Wayne Enterprises at our manor, and I've decided to invite you."

Barry was confused; he looked back at Bruce, pointing himself with his index finger… "Only me?"

"No, silly." Dinah answered. "We're all going. Right Hal?" She looked at Hal, giving him a face to play along. Even if he had no idea about this part, he did play along with the rest of them, nodding.

Bruce continued his sentence. "We thought giving you some time would be better, and know that it is completely okay if you don't want to come."

The blond haired boy shook his head. "Thank you Bruce, but I don't think it would be a good choice." He sighed. "I mean, look at what I'm doing. You should all be celebrating. But here you are, bearing my stupid as hell behaviour. I probably do the same at the party."

Hal kneeled next to him. "But we like your stupid as hell behaviour."

"It's this Saturday," Bruce smiled. "Feel free to come, we'll be pleased to greet you there, Barry."

* * *

 

It was almost going to be the evening. The day was Saturday, and that meant the party at the Wayne Manor was soon to begin. Bruce knew Alfred handled everything about it, and all he himself did was pretty much obeying his orders and calling some services to their house. Mr. Fox also helped him gather the guests, sending invitation cards and everything. One and a half hour until the meeting time, guests began to arrive one by one. Even though their arrival times had long minutes between, it still freaked out Bruce. He didn't do much public appearance until this year, and doing all of it suddenly scared him.

"How many are there in the main hall, Alfred?" Bruce asked him, sneaking through the kitchen. He glanced at all the food Alfred had prepared – and made prepared – and felt the need to try out all of them, but a shot of Alfred's face was more than enough to repel him.

"Three pairs so far, sir," Alfred replied, but he knew he was getting annoyed by this question because he had been asking him that constantly for the last 20 minutes. As he put the tray on his hands above the counter, he looked at Bruce's clothes. He was still in his pajamas. "It will be best if you suit up soon, Master Bruce. You need to welcome guests in half an hour, and that means there will be cameras. I don’t know if this choice of appearance will be the most suitable for a public appearance."

"Yes, I know, thank you Alfred," Bruce answered sarcastically, rolling his eyes. Alfred was going to reply him but he cut his words by lifting a finger in the air. "Before you speak, I know it means socializing, and I need to talk with people."

The butler smiled, making his own eyes linear. He put ten wine glasses on the tray and then left to get wine from the pantry. Bruce realised there was no point in waiting up here, doing nothing; he rushed to his room so that nobody would see him.

 

As he made it to his room upstairs, he quickly took of his top and changed it to a white shirt. While he was wearing the rest of his black and white suit, the action reminded of the times when his mother would clothe him in a similar suit. He remembered how much he hated it at first, but then seeing his father with the same appearance... It totally changed his view on suits, that's for sure. Then it became hard to take it off for Bruce.

He was about to tie his bowtie, facing the mirror when in an instant the door opened behind him. Bruce turned his body quickly to see who the intruder was. It was Diana, in her red velvet, long dress that embraced her physical features perfectly. She was also wearing red gloves, and holding a diamond purse on her hands. Bruce noticed her necklace and earrings were chosen to pair up with her purse. "So, what do you think?" She asked the boy in front of him, then shooting a big smile at him.

"Magnificent, Diana," Bruce replied, turning back to the mirror. "Great..."

But of course, Diana was curious and wanted to help him. "Is everything okay?" She asked while decreasing the distance between.

Bruce tried to tie his bowtie once again, but after a few tries, he collapsed his body on the couch next to the mirror. "I guess not," he answered, throwing the bowtie to the floor in anger. "I'm terrified, Diana."

She asked in her caring voice. "Is this your first time to show yourself in front of the cameras?" As she walked towards the couch to sit next to Bruce, she picked up the bowtie on the floor as well.

"No, but first time alone. On my own." Bruce turned his head to the picture on his wall. The picture of him standing between his mother and father. "I don't know if I'll make them proud."

"You're carrying a big weight on your shoulder, Bruce. There's no denying in that." Diana said, looking at him. "But you can't worry for the rest of your life if you're worth it or not. _Be yourself_. Be confident." She took his hand and made him stand up, then turned his body to face the mirror, then moving to his back, she began to tie the bowtie.

As she finished tying, she tidied his shirt’s neck then looked proudly at her work. She walked in front of him, said her words slowly and making him feel every one of it. "You're going to do it." But then, she placed her hands on his waist, and began to lean on him, and her lips was about to collapse on his own.

He pushed her away. "Diana, there's something I need to—" Bruce tried to explain it, but the door was opened one more time. This time by his butler.

"Sir, you need to greet your guests now." Alfred ordered, and as he left, Diana pulled her hands away.

"Let's go together, is it better?" She asked.

Bruce smiled. "Better."

 

Once they were downstairs, Bruce stopped at the first step, looking at the main hall. It was too crowded, and Bruce felt his anxiety kick in again. But as Diana held his hand, he tried to calm himself, and wore a smirk. He noticed Mr. Fox standing around with a few of his colleagues. They walked near him together.

Bruce passed his hand to him. It felt good to be as the same height as him, at an age of 16. "Hello, Lucius. You look better than ever!" He pointed at Diana. "This is Diana, my classmate."

The guy next to Mr. Fox jumped into the conversation. "Yes, we've heard about you going to a school this year," he said as he laughed. "Quite a bold move, if I must say so."

Bruce crossed his brows, but Diana squeezed his hand. Mr. Fox interfered instead. "Bruce is doing all he can to feel like a teenager again, Mr. Powers. Give him a break."

Diana whispered to him. "Look, there's Oliver. Let's see him." Bruce nodded. After Bruce promised to talk again with Mr. Fox and his friends before leaving; they began to walk towards their classmate, but an older man stopped Bruce midway.

"Oh my Lord," the man shouted with his scratchy voice. "Amanda, look at him!" He called his wife over, and the couple looked at Bruce with admiration.

The woman – old enough to be his grandmother – started to speak. "Oh Bruce, you've grown up so much," she said. "I remember when you couldn't even walk without your mother on your hand back then."

"Just like you can't walk without your stick right now, grandma!" Thomas shouted at her. It startled the old woman, as she threw herself on her husband's arms, then they went away. "Nice party, Wayne."

It pissed off Diana a lot that this boy was very disrespectful towards his elders. She urged not to kick him in the face at that moment. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, hello to you too, beautiful," Thomas replied, then leaned over Bruce. "You didn't tell me you had a girlfriend, Brucie. How was she like?"

Bruce's eyes grew in shock of the question, and he didn't even move an inch to stop Diana from kicking his balls. "Like that." She said as Thomas covered his area in agony. "And I'm his best friend, you jerk." Diana looked at Bruce one last time before taking his hand and pulling him over around Oliver.

 

"What happened there?" He asked the two, but neither of them wanted to answer first. "Well?"

Bruce began to answer. "He made disgusting implications about Diana, and she gave him what he deserved."

Oliver turned to Diana immediately. "Are you crazy?!" He looked at Bruce, but as he received no response, he continued. "His parents have partnered with Wayne Enterprises' new project, as well as my company did. What if he makes a prick move and defects his parents from this project? It would cost millions."

Bruce answered strictly. "He wouldn't."

"What, you trust him now?"

"No. It's because he's a coward. He would never accept that he took a hit from a girl."

"Well, you're right about that," Oliver agreed, then sighed. "Look, I'm sorry Diana that I overreacted. I'm just worried."

"It looks like everyone is." Diana looked behind Oliver's shoulder. "Wait, is that Barry?!"

The two billionaires’ heads turned to that area, seeing the blond guy standing around, confused. "Alfred said to greet the guests, let's do it."

As they reached to him, he seemed nervous still, but it was easy to say he was feeling better than a few days ago. Oliver looked around and saw no one near him. Surprised from not seeing Hal with him, he asked curiously. “Where’s Hal?”

Barry scratched his hair. “He’s off to bring me a drink,” he explained. Putting his hand on his pocket, he continued. “He said it will help me get my mind off from… you know.”

Bruce put his hand on his shoulder, patting it. Diana’s face showed pity and sadness for her friend. Thankfully, it wasn’t long before Hal showed up, with two drinks on his hands. “Good party, Bruce. It’s really fun. I’m literally having fun right now!”

Oliver bent his head, pointing Barry with his eyebrows. “Don’t you think you should tone it down a little, Hal?” Diana shook her head too, disapproving of Hal’s words.

“Don’t worry about Barry,” Hal answered. “He’d told me he’d given me hell for a week, so he wants me to have fun as much as I can.”

Bruce crossed his brows, annoyed and also shocked. “What does that even mean, Barry?”

“I know you guys have been supporting me, and I’m thankful for that, but don’t you think you deserve to be happy for a while?” Barry explained. “I’ll be okay. Hal’s with me, right?” He looked at the boy standing next to him.

Hal nodded, smiling. “Yes!” He drank from the glass inside his palm. “We’re gonna tear this place apart!”

Bruce laughed. “Try not to forget that a friend of yours live here, Hal.”

Oliver pinched his arm. “Bruce, they’re starting. Let’s sit.” Bruce nodded, and the three of them went to find the tables reserved for them.

The billionaire told his butler specifically to merge Oliver’s and his table, so that he wouldn’t get as nervous as he would be if not. Diana still held his hand, offering him support. It also looked like it didn’t pass through Oliver’s eyes, as he constantly winked at him, smirking and pointing Diana. _Typical Ollie_ , Bruce thought.

 

It was the presenter’s voice that diverted him from his thoughts, and the three of them raised their heads, looking at the presenter. “We are thankful to all of you who decided to meet with us, to celebrate our breath-taking invention, and much more.” His sentence ended with a loud applause. “Now, I want to call Mr. Fox over here to talk about this new device that will take mobile communication to a whole new level.”

Lucius Fox climbed the stairs with claps behind his every step; he wore a big smile when he reached the rostrum. “Thank you for all the cheers, everyone.” He raised his hands to silence the audience, and then picked the box standing above the rostrum. “This is the ‘thing’ we’ve been working for two years. This is the new ‘ _Waynet’_ , and it’s more than a mobile phone.”

Everyone clapped for one more time, and as the man continued to explain its features and difference from the other phones; Bruce realised his attention was fading with each passing minute. He tried not to fall asleep, because he knew how much Mr. Fox worked for this, and he didn’t want to disrespect his efforts. Fortunately, after a few long painful minutes, the man made a shout-out and called his name. “To sum it up all, I want to thank Mr. Wayne for showing absolute interest in the ‘Waynet’ and funding for all our tech team.” Bruce smiled at him, and thanked to people around him. As Lucius Fox went down the stairs, the presenter took his place.

He seemed rather joyful at that moment. “If there are people who don’t know yet, you’ll know now. I want to bring the party organizer and the birthday boy himself, Mr. Bruce Wayne!” He made hand signals, and the audience rose from their seats, started to sing ‘ _Happy Birthday to You_ ’.

Even though he knew that they were going to do this, he had to act like he didn’t. So he put a big smile on his face, showing shyness and satisfaction. Diana pushed him to get up to the stage while she was also singing the song.

Oliver smiled and congratulated him. “Happy birthday, Bruce.”

He accepted it. “Thanks, Ollie.” Then, despite how much he hated being in the spotlight, he walked to the stage. “Thanks, everybody.” He cleaned his throat, and waited until they finished the song and brought the birthday cake to the stage itself, with 17 candles above it. “I believe if I have a gift from God, I better make myself useful for it. I don’t know if this is the best time to say this but, this will also be the day that the Wayne Foundation is established.”

The crowd applauded him, nodding and approving of his action. “If there’s one thing my parents taught me is, to be grateful for all you’ve got and help to those who don’t. So, thank you everyone for being with me today, and all this time.” He walked away from the rostrum and blew the candles above the birthday cake. Alfred rushed near him, along with a few maids that he paid for this event, and started to slice the cake to give to the guests.

After the butler gave the first cut slice to Bruce, he took him to a less visible area. “Happy birthday, Master Bruce.” The boy smiled, and then suddenly hugged the old man with all he’d got. Alfred chuckled then embraced him as well.

He heard Diana calling to him. “Bruce, we’re going to the bar, you’re coming?”

Bruce looked at Alfred, who was definitely disapproving, judging by his looks. “You haven’t passed the legal drinking age just yet, sir.”

“Just for this night, Alfred?” Oliver asked him, then Alfred sighed.

“Be careful, or I’m not dealing with your mess later, Master Bruce.” Diana clapped her hands, then picked him by his hand, pulling him to the bar.

* * *

 

The blond guy picked the next drink Oliver passed to him, saying it’s his best mix yet. “Are you sure about this, Ollie?”

Oliver laughed, passing Hal the same drink he prepared. “Relax, Bar. It’s my special recipe.”

Diana bit the brownie she picked up from a tray nearby before answering. “You know you’ll get at least one day in the jail if I told this to the authorities?”

Oliver smirked. “Then this means you’ll get the next one, Diana.”

She raised her brow, but accepted Oliver’s drink.

Bruce took a sip from his one. “This is actually not _so_ bad.”

Oliver sat on the barman stool, cleaning the table with the towel he found from beneath the counter. “It’s the Queen formula, guys.” He smiled when he saw Dinah walking near them. “They say it helps with romantic beginnings.”

“You look amazing, Dinah!” Diana said, looking at her long black dress.

“Thanks, Diana,” she replied, bending her head down. “What do you think, Ollie?” She looked at him, but the boy kissed her instead of giving her a verbal reply.

“Oh, wow,” Diana exclaimed, rotating her head to not look at them. She met with Bruce’s blue eyes again. “Well, I guess they were right about the Queen formula.”

As soon as they parted, Hal spoke up. “Anything you want to share with us?”

Oliver answered. “Me and Dinah are officially dating.” But soon as he remembered about Barry’s condition, he continued quickly. “I-I didn’t mean to do this in front of you.”

Barry, on the other hand, was calm. “You aren’t going to pity me your whole life, are you?” The billionaire, nervous, hesitated to answer. Barry smiled. “It’s alright, Oliver.” He turned to Dinah. “I’m actually happy for you guys.”

“Thanks, Barry.” Dinah sighed, then pulled Oliver away to a more private corner. “I knew this was a bad time.” Bruce heard them talk in whispers, then gave them the privacy they needed as he turned away.

“What about you guys?” Hal asked all of a sudden, catching Bruce in shock.

“What do you mean?”

Hal smiled at Barry, the only other person who knew what Hal was talking about. “You and Diana.” Diana was almost drowning in her drink, and Bruce raised his eyebrows.

“We’re just best friends,” Bruce laughed, then turned to Diana while still speaking with Hal and Barry. “ _Right?_ ”

Diana hesitated. “Right.”

“Well, if you say so,” Hal replied. “Wouldn’t be a bad idea, though.” And with that, he and Barry walked away, drinks on their hands; started talking about sports like nothing happened. Bruce turned to Diana, who seemed in a pretty bad statement.

“Are you okay, Diana?” He asked, and got a nod as a respond. “You know you can tell me anything.”

“What were you going to tell me when you interrupted my attempt at kissing you?” Diana was strict and direct as always.

“I was – I was going to tell you–” Bruce stopped talking as his phone rang inside his pocket. He quickly looked at who was calling. It was Clark. He didn’t know if he should accept the call or not. It might be important but if he opened it, Diana was going to be even madder.

“Well, who is it?!” Diana asked furiously, getting impatient as the phone kept ringing.

Bruce accepted the call and met with Clark’s excited voice. “You’re not going to believe what I just found, Bruce.”

The boy didn’t have much time, as he met with Diana’s annoyed face. “Tell me, and be quick about it.”

Clark didn’t make him wait long. “About the files you’ve given me… There’s a new clue about the case, Bruce.” Bruce could feel his smile at the end of the line. “I think this is all you’ve been looking for.”

“I’ll text you in a minute,” he said to Clark before finishing the call. “I’ll be back soon,” Bruce told Diana in a hurry, standing up from the stool and running to find Alfred. “Don’t worry.”

What just happened to Diana was the last straw, and she knew she couldn’t put up with more. “Ohoho, no,” she said angrily, getting up. “You’re not getting your way out like this, Bruce Wayne.” She pulled her dress up a little to help with her speed, as she was chasing Bruce.

 

As soon as Bruce found Alfred, he pulled him and whispered to his ear. “I need to go, Alfred. Please try to deal with the situation until I come back,” he said. “I promise I’ll tell you everything when I get back.”

Before he could escape from the event, the butler held him by his arm. “This is the second time you’re asking me a favour today, sir.” He was nervous, Bruce could tell that just by looking at his face. “Be careful.”

Bruce nodded then went upstairs, to his room, to change his clothes to a more comfortable outfit. Like the one he wore the other night he sneaked out. Little did he know that Diana was on his tail, so when he closed the door and started taking off his suit, Diana crashed into his room and locked the door.

“You’re not going anywhere until you tell me what’s going on, Bruce Wayne.” She was so furious that her face reddened. “I think I deserve to know at least that for being your best friend.”

Bruce texted Clark to pick him up in 10 minutes, then turned to Diana. She was right. She had every right to know what’s going on, but Bruce didn’t know if he was capable of telling her everything. She had helped him with everything this whole night and never complained for anything.

The billionaire boy knew he had to tell her, so he collapsed on the couch and waited for Diana to come, sit next to him like he did this evening. “Please tell me you’ll not freak out.”

Diana looked at him. “Do I look like a person that will do that?”

“You know the recent break-in happened at the police archives?” Bruce asked her, and as she nodded, he continued. “I was the one who did that.”

Diana gasped, then closed her mouth with her hand. “What?!”

“I told you not to freak out!” Bruce shouted while jumping from his seat. “You were the one who wanted the truth!”

She held his hand, not letting him go. “Why?”  She asked, demanded to know the rest.

“That night was not very successful, though I managed to get my hands on my parents’ death case file.” Bruce explained. “I told you before I didn’t believe everything had been done.” He glanced at her, sitting on the couch; her face, bent down. “You can tell the police if you want, Diana. You don’t have to carry such burden.”

“Of course not, Bruce!” Diana shouted at him. “I must say, I’m kind of hurt that you thought I would do that!”

“I’m just saying, Diana.” He replied. “As I was saying… I was going to escape after looking at it, but there were two cops – who weren’t supposed to be there at that time of the night. Lucky for me, Clark helped me.”

“So you told him and not me?” Diana asked, while calculating something on her mind. “Weren’t you two vexatious during that week, or am I remembering it wrong?”

“You’re right – I was as surprised as you are. But he called me before I left the manor that night, and he knew where I was going,” Bruce explained. “I didn’t really mean to tell him what I was about to do.”

“Why did he call you in the middle of the night, though? It doesn’t make sense.”

Bruce sighed, stopped pacing back and forth as he’d been doing for several minutes. “That was the thing I was going to tell you when you tried to kiss me, Diana.” She looked at him, having no clue. “Clark and I…”

He didn’t have to continue, he knew Diana got the idea as her eyes grew into utter shock. _“Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god.”_ Her hands were twisting, and she was shaking. “Where’s the bathroom?”

Bruce didn’t think her respond would be this worse, but he still wanted to help his friend. He pointed at the bathroom inside his room, and Diana rushed into it, closing the door in the process. He leaned over the door. “Is everything okay, Diana?” She didn’t reply him, so he thought it would be best if he gave her some time.

Meanwhile, he changed his outfit, and before wearing the hat he wore on his head the last time; he walked back to the bathroom door one last time. He knocked the door. “Diana?” He listened, and heard her crying. “Diana!” He burst into the room. She was sitting on the toilet, and as soon he walked in, she wiped her tears.

“You’re probably going to hate me for this, Bruce,” Diana told him, her teardrops wetting her red cheeks. “But… I actually… loved you.”

Bruce kneeled down to make eye contact. “It’s okay, Diana,” he said, and hugged her. “It’s alright.”

“I shouldn’t have tried to kiss you. That must be disrespectful.”

“It’s okay,” Bruce said before pulling off. “But… I really need to go see Clark right now.”

“Was he the one who called you?” Diana asked.

Bruce nodded. “Yes, and he’ll be here in two minutes.”

“Good,” Diana replied. “Because I’m coming with you too.”

This time it was Bruce’s turn to freak out. _“What?!”_ He shouted. “Diana, you can’t! It’s too dangerous!”

Diana stood up and washed her face. Her makeup was messed up due to the fact that she cried. “I’ve been bitten by a snake, fought with dogs on my tail, and one time, I was almost falling off from a cliff.” She picked the towel and dried her face. “And I’m still alive. If it is dangerous, it is dangerous for you, billionaire boy.”

Bruce sighed. “You know you can’t go with this dress on.”

“Then get me leggings and a top, clever.” Diana said, and Bruce threw her the first leggings and a t-shirt he found in his wardrobe. She closed the bathroom door once again, and changed her appearance in almost a minute.

“Well that was fast.” Bruce exclaimed. Both of their heads turned to the window as they heard a rock hit it. “I’ll look.” He opened the window and saw Clark was the one who threw it. “How did you get in here?”

“The gate was open?”

“You’re not fooling anyone.”

“Okay, okay. I got inside by climbing the walls,” Clark explained. “It triggered the alarms, but I was too quick for them to notice me. Instead, they found a cat that I’ve brought with myself, so they thought the cat was the trespasser.”

“This may be the stupidest explanation I’ve ever heard, but okay,” Bruce said. “Where’s the truck?”

“Outside the Manor gates.”

“Coming.” Bruce told him, and Clark nodded, rushing to the exit. He turned to look for Diana, and saw her at the door. “Let’s go.” She nodded as well, and they went downstairs, to the kitchen.

“There’s a door here that leads to the shelters. We’ll get out by the shelter door in the garden.” Bruce said and lead the way. There were a lot of people even inside the kitchen, but fortunately all of them were either drunk and laying on the floor, or in an intercourse, too busy to notice. Bruce held Diana’s hand and the two rushed to the pantry.

The pantry had a dark area where no light touched, and Bruce knew exactly where to open the door. He tried to push the block to the right, but it was very heavy. “Give me some help?” He asked Diana, and she quickly grabbed the block on the other side and the two pulled it easily. “This way,” he pointed and as Diana got in, he opened his phone’s flashlight to see the tunnel.

After a few minutes, they finally were inside the shelters. Bruce ran to open the door. It took literally 10 minutes to just exit the building, so Bruce hoped whatever Clark claimed to have found would be better worth it. They walked to the gate, and Bruce pressed his thumb on the scanner. As soon as it said “ _CONFIRMED_ ” Bruce almost ran out from the gate, as if it would close before they could escape.

Diana looked around and saw Clark’s truck’s headlights, pulled Bruce to walk to it. Once they reached it, they got in quickly. Clark was surprised to see Diana. “Um… Diana?”

“I know about it all, farm boy. Now let’s go.” Diana said.

Bruce was sitting next to Clark, and Diana was at the back. “What did you find, Clark?” By asking that question, he got Diana’s attention as well.

Clark picked up the file from the front. “There is more information here than they told the press about it,” he said. “Apparently the robber was a known one, and they thought it wasn’t a coincidence. They thought someone hired him.”

“And this brings us nowhere.” Bruce said, but still looking at the pictures. When he came by his parents’ corpses, he closed it immediately and gave it to Diana.

She found something not too long later. “Hey, look at that.” She pointed at a handkerchief on his mother’s chest. “What’s that?”

Clark looked at it closely. “There’s a red rose – and a letter,” he said to Bruce. “I think it says M.”

Diana turned to Bruce. “Was it your mother’s? I thought her name was Martha, right?”

It hit Bruce in that moment. “That’s what the police must have thought back then as well, but I know my mother never had anything like that,” he said. “The red rose. It’s Maroni family’s sign.”

Clark looked at the picture again. “You’re right." He pulled out his laptop. "Do you remember anything else, Bruce?"

"How tall was the man? Or, how old do you think he is?" Diana tried to help.

"Give me your laptop," Bruce demanded and as soon as he got it, he opened the police archives system. After several minutes of waiting, Bruce hacked the system. "I can cross reference the information with the whole GCPD archives now."

"How did you even-" Clark was going to ask but Bruce cut him off.

"If I was 4 feet when I was 8, and if I remember my eyes met with his belly first, then he should be like..."

"5'6 or something like that," Diana finished. "Range it between 5'4 and 5'6."

As Bruce typed the finding, he continued to think. "He had a cracky voice. Must be because of smoking, but either way, I think he was at least 40 years old back then."

"40-50 sounds about right." Clark nodded, and Bruce typed in.

"Now all we have to do is look up the criminals the police suspected of working for the Maroni Family." He pressed the button search and the search engine gave him two results. Diana leaned over the center to look at the names.

Clark read the names out loud. "Tony Zucco and... Joe Chill." The two of them looked at Bruce, who would give the final decision.

"Let's start with Tony Zucco."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELL YEAH THE DC TRINITY IS ON A SECRET MISSION LOOOOOOOOL
> 
> Aside from the joke, they really are! I'm getting excited about a fictional story I'm writing. What even...


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